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SUGGESTSONS 

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SECOND EDITION— REVISED. 



SUGGESTIONS 



TO 



Military Riflemen 



LIEUTENANT TOWNSEND WHELEN, 



29th Infantry United States Army. 

Winner of the Army Competitions, 1903. 

Coaoh of the U. S. Army Infantry Team, 1905. 

Member of the U. S. Infantry National Team, 1903, 1903. 

and 1907. 

Formsrly Range Officer, First Brigade, National Guar<l. 

of Pennsylvania. 



1909: 

Franklin Hudson Publishing Co., 

Kansas City. Mo. 



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Copyright by 

FeankLin Hudson Publishing Co. 

1909. 



LC Control Nvunber 




tinp96 026377 



LiSRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Onni^-r, deceived 
JUL 9 JttU^_^ 

, Copynsrnt Entry ^ 



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CONTENTS. 



Page. 

Introduction 7 

Chapter 1. The Selection of an Accurate Rifle.. 13 

II. The Care of the Rifle. 22 

III. The Firing Positions 35 

IV. Holding and Pulling the Trigger. ... 57 
V. Position and Aiming Drills 65 

VI. Gallery Practice and Calling the Shot, 71 

VII. The Sights and Their Adjustment... 80 

VIII. Elevation and Zero 98 

IX. Windage and Winds 105 

X. Mirage, Light, and Atmosphere 112 

XI. The Score-Book 12^ 

XII. Slow Fire 142 

XIII. Rapid Fire 147 

XIV. Skirmish 152 

XV. Long Range 173 

XVI. Service Ammunition 181 

XVII. Mid- and Short-Range Ammunition. ..192 

XVIII. Company and Team Practice 200 

XIX. The Riflemen on 'the Baittlefield 224 

XX. The Eyes 233 



LIST OF WORKS CONSULTED. 



Arms and the Man, Periodical. 

Firing Regulations for Small-Arms, — . 

Guns, Ammunition and Tackle, Kephart and 

Carlin. 
Infantry Fire, Batchelor. 

Ideal Handbook, Ideal Manufacturing Company. 
Journal of the Military Service Institution, 

Periodical. 
Journal of the U. S. Infantry Association, 

Periodical. 
Modern Rifle-Shooting, Hudson. 
Modern American Rifles, Gould. 
Modern Rifle-Shooting, Tippins. 
Manual for Rifle Practice, Wingate. 

Reports of the Chief of Ordnance, . 

Sharpshooting for Sport and War, Greener. 

Small-Arms Firing Regulations, Blunt. 

Shooting and Fishing, Periodical. 

School of the Krag, Foulke. 

The Military Gallery Range, Bell. 

The Book of the Rifle, Fremantle. 



INTRODUCTION, 



In the days of the old Springfield rifle Blunt's 
Firing Regulations contained an excellent chap- 
ter entitled "Suggestions to Riflemen." This 
work, a most excellent one, was widely consulted 
and assisted to a large extent in improving marks- 
manship in the Army. To-day, however, rifle- 
firing has reached such a science that it is im- 
possible to burden our Pairing Regulations with 
this subject. The need of such information and 
knowledge in the service is greater than ever, 
and the desire for it expressed to me by many 
officers of the regular Army and National Guard 
has induced me to undertake this work. While 
the great part of it is compiled from my own 
experience, I have consulted practically all the 
modern writings on the subject obtainable in my 
endeavors to present to the reader everything on 
the subject of any practical value. 

I shall not attempt to describe the rifle, for 1 
do not care to take up the space necessary. The 
best description of it will be found in a pamphlet 



8 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

entitled "Description and Rules for the Man- 
agement of the U. S. Magazine Rifle, Model 
[903." Nor will any of the data which is con- 
tained in the Firing Regulations for Small- 
Arms, othei than that which is absolutely nec- 
essary to make the text clear, appear in these 
pages. A knowledge of the contents of both 
these works is necessary to a clear understanding 
of what is to follow. The reader is referred to 
any of the standard works on ballistics for the 
scientific part of rifle-shooting, as I shall take up 
only the practical side of the subject, it being my 
intention to give fully that information which the 
marksman and the instructor need to shoot and 
to teach on the range and battle-field. 

The text of this work refers only to the U. S. 
Magazine Rifle Cal. 30, Model 1903, chambered 
for the Model 1906 Ammunition, popularly 
known as the "New Springfield." The U. S. 
Magazine Rifle, Cal. 30, Model 1898 (Krag-Jor- 
gensen), which is still in, use in the Military 
Schools and in the hands of many civilian rifle- 
men, has been thoroughly covered in the part of 
the Appendix relating to it. The general re- 
marks throughout the book will pertain equally 
to both rifles. 

Rifle-shooting, as a science, is advancing with 
such rapidity that it would seem that -no sooner 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 9 

is a work published on the subject than it be- 
comes obsolete. This is particularly true of the 
last five years, during which time great advances 
have been made, both in arms and ammunition 
and in the skill of our riflemen, thus adding 
greatly to the strength of the Nation. I should 
like here to give credit for this to the National 
Rifle Association for their energetic work of pro- 
moting and encouraging rifle-shooting in the 
National Guard, and among the citizens through- 
out the United States ; to every officer in our 
Regular Service for their great interest and 
painstaking work in developing marksmanship 
in the Army, and to the Ordnance Department 
of the Army for so ably perfecting, and giving 
to us an arm which this year has clearly proved 
itself to be the best in the world. 

As our skill with the rifle progresses our 
Small-Arms Firing Regulations must of neces- 
sity change also to keep pace. Several years ago 
the 1,000-yard range was considered an extreme- 
ly difficult one. .To-day it is so easy that we can 
with profit move back to longer ranges. As 
this edition goes to press a board of officers i. 
at work on a revision of the Small-Arms Fir- 
ing Regulations, but it not thought necessary to 
await the publication of their work. The pur- 
pose of this book is not so much to teach men 



10 Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 

to qualify in the higher grades of marksman- 
ship and to win competitions, as it is to teach 
those principles of good shooting which will 
enable men to make the largest proportion of 
hits under battle conditions. There is a tend- 
ency now to make shooting conditions more 
practical ; to restrict shooting at bull's-eye targets 
to the beginner and to the finished marksman 
learning the shooting peculiarities of a new rifle 
or a new ammunition. Advance practice will 
consist in firing at targets which in their appear- 
ance, the time they are in sight and their move- 
ments will approximate as nearly as possible an 
enemy on the battlefield. And this is decidedly 
a move in the right direction. For such shoot-- 
ing no absolute rule can be laid down. The 
principles of good shooting, well grounded, and 
a thorough knowledge of the rifle are what is 
needed. 

In order to make the book of practical work- 
ing value, I have given the addresses where var- 
ious preparations and devices can be obtained. 

In the preparation of this work I am greatly 
indebted to many officers of the regular service 
for valuable suggestions, and particularly to Dr. 
Walter G. Hudson, not only for the knowledge 
gained from his many writings on the subject, 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 11 

but also for kind suggestions regarding the re- 
vision of the book. 

It is my hope that I have given to the service 
something which officers and individuals will 
care to study and to carry to the range with them. 

TOWNSKND WhKIvKN. 

Fort William McKinley, 
Philippine Islands, 1909. 



CHAPTER I. 



Th>: Sklejction o^ an Accurate: Ri^le;. 

The manufacture of our army rifle has reach- 
ed such a degree of perfection that one would 
be ahnost safe in saying that all new rifles are 
accurate. Some will be found a little more so 
than others ; some will be found which will re- 
tain their accuracy for a greater number of 
rounds than usual, and" once in a great while on^ 
will be found which will not do justice to the 
holding of an expert shot and which will become 
inaccurate quickly. In order to do good shoot- 
ing it is necessary that one should have confi- 
dence in his rifle, and in order that we may cast 
aside the inaccurate and quick-wearing rifles for 
expert work, and also that we may have a knowl- 
edge of what constitutes a good-shooting, long- 
lived arm, the knowledge of how to select an ac- 
curate rifle is necessary. 

Iho only infallible way of choosing an ac- 
curate rifle is to have it shot from a machine 
rest (vise), at looo yards, on a perfect day, by 

-13-^ 



14 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

an expert. But a rifle selected in this way only, 
with no reference to size of bore, is risky, as, if 
the bore is large, its fine shooting qualities will 
very quickly vanish. There are certain charac- 
teristics or ''ear-marks" which all good rifles 
have, and with a knowledge of these and a cer- 
tain amount of skill in determining them a rifle 
may be selected with almost a certainty that it 
will perform well at the target at long range. 

In selecting a rifle the points to be observed 
are the mttzde, the bore, and the stock. 

The muzzle should be bright, free from rust 
and any injury or burr. The lands and grooves 
should be cleanly and sharply cut right up to 
their end. Examine the muzzle under a mag- 
nifying-glass. The dulling or rounding of the 
square edges of the lands and grooves by the 
cleaning-rod or thong should be especially 
looked for, as this is the principal defect in the 
muzzles of rifles which have been in the hands 
of troops for any length of time. Any of these 
defects, and particularly the latter, should be a 
cause for instant rejection. It must be remem- 
bered ■ that the muzzle of the rifle is its most 
delicate and important part, for any injury or 
wear to it will allow the powder gas to escape 
on one side of the base of the bullet before the 
other at the instant that the base of the bullet 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 15 

leaves the barrel. Thus the gas first escaping 
will cause the bullet to tip from its correct line 
of departure and make the flight unsteady. Ev- 
erything depends on perfect delivery of the bul- 
let point on. 

The rifle is first smooth-bored .300 inch in 
diameter and is then rifled .004 inch deep, mak- 
ing the measurements of the bore from the 
bottom of one groove to the bottom of the op- 
posite groove .308 inch. Owing, however, to 
the speed of manufacture, lack of homogeneity 
in the bairel steel, and the wear of , the tools, 
barrels will vary in their diameter from .307 
inch to .310 inch, and some of them will be 
large (loose) in one place and small (tight) in 
another place throughout their length. To be 
accurate and have long-wearing qualities, the 
barrel should measure from the bottom of one 
groove to the bottom of the opposite groove 
not more than .3085 inch nor less than .30775 
inch, and there should be no large or small 
places — i. e., it should be a perfect cylinder or 
else it should be a trifle smaller at the muzzle 
than breech, with a smooth, even taper the entire 
distance. The ideal barrel would measure .30825 
at the breech and .308 at the muzzle. 

The measuring of the interior of a rifle barrel 
is not so diflicult as it appears, and anyone can 



16 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

become fairly expert at it in twenty or thirty 
trials. The implements necessary are a Brown 
& Sharpe's micrometer calipers, measuring to 
thousandths of an inch an object i inch or small- 
er, which can be obtained from any first-class 
hardware store ; a cleaning-rod 36 inches long 
(40 inche-> for the Krag) and a quantity of soft 
lead conical bullets measuring ,313 inch.''' The 
cleaning-rod should be made of ^-inch steel or 
brass by any gunsmith. 

The barrel of the rifle is first made absolutely 
clean and then oiled slightly with a thin gun oil 
similar to "3 in i." Now place the rifle with the 
muzzle resting on a wood floor, barrel vertical, 
bolt removed; and drop a bullet, point first, into 
the chamber so it will rest against the rifling 
at the throat of the chamber. With the end of 
the cleaning-rod hammer it about an inch into 
the rifling. This expands the bullet to fill the 
grooves of the rifling perfectly. Grasp the clean- 
ing-rod by the end and with a steady, powerful 
motion push the bullet through the barrel un- 
til it rests in the muzzle against the floor. Do 
not allow the bullet to stop in its passage. It 

*The best bullets are those for the .32-20 Winches- 
ter Center Fire Cartridge, which can be obtained in 
lots of 1,000 from the Winchester Repeating Arms Co., 
New Haven, Conn., or through any sporting goods 
dealer. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 17 

will take considerable force to start it. As it is 
passing through try to determine by the resist- 
ance offered to the pressure the presence of any 
tight loose, or rough places and their location. 
This will come quickly with practice. 

Now reverse the rifle and with the cleaning- 
rod still in the barrel, the right hand holding the 
cleaning-rod and the left hand holding the muz- 
zle, tap the base of the bullet gently with the 
rod until the point protrudes from the muzzle 
and only about an eighth of an inch of the bul- 
let remains in the rifling. Grasp the point of 
the bullet very lightly w4th the fingers and try 
by very light side pressure to move it. If it re- 
mains immovable, it is a sign of a good tight 
.muzzle, which is very desirable. Very gently 
tap the bullet out of the barrel, being careful to 
catch it in the fingers and prevent any injury. 
Wipe the surplus oil off carefully and measure 
its largest diameter near the base with the mi- 
crometer calipers. The points at which the cal- 
ipers should touch the bullet are the projections 
on the bullet which have been riding on the 
center of the grooves of the barrel. In using 
the calipers be sure that the contact points are 
perfectly clean and use no force in screwing up 
for measuiement. This measurement will give 
you the smallest diameter in the barrel, meas- 



18 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

tiring from the bottom of one groove to the 
bottom of the opposite. If this is over .30^5 
inch or under .30775 inch, or if there are loose 
places near the muzzle, tight places near the 
breech, or very rough places anywhere, discard 
the gun foi expert use. Note that it is often 
very hard to start the bullet traveling through 
the barrel, and do not confuse this with a tight 
place near the breech. 

Supposing the gun has passed this test, we 
should next measure the breech and muzzle. To 
measure the breech, insert a bullet i inch into the 
rifling as before and then enter the cleaning-rod 
in the muzzle and drive it out gently, being sure 
to catch it in the fingers as it leaves the/ cham- 
ber to prevent injury; then measure. To meas- 
ure the muzzle, force the bullet clear through the 
barrel to the muzzle as in the first instance, then 
rest the muzzle on the wood floor and with the 
cleaning-rod pound the base of the bullet until 
you are sure it is expanded to the muzzle size : 
then drive out carefully and measure. 

It is not to be understood that rifles which do 
not pass this test are, not accurate enough for 
target work. It is very rare indeed that a poor- 
shooting rifle gets past the inspectors. For th"? 
use of experts and competitors, however, the 
rifle should pass these tests, as the rifle doing 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 19 

so will be the most accurate and have the long- 
est life. Generally speaking, a rifle barrel meas- 
uring over .309 inch will not satisfy a good shot 
in the size of its shot groups and in its wearing 
qualities, and one. as large as .310 is apt to shoot 
rather poorly; but, as I have said, these are few 
and far between. The reasons for discarding 
rifles of these diameters will be treated fully in 
the chapter on "Ammunition." This method of 
choosing a rifle is not infallible, for a rifle may 
pass all these tests and yet not be bored straight ; 
but I have never yet found such a one. 

Instead of forcing the bullet through the bar- 
rel by the pressure of the hand in gauging, some 
riflemen prefer to drive it through by blows on 
the end of the cleaning-rod, delivered with a ham- 
mer. The blow is struck so as to drive the bul- 
let through about half an inch of barrel at each 
blow, and any tight, loose, or rough placeg in 
the bore are quickly noticed by the varying resist- 
ance to the blow of the hammer and the distance 
which the bullet travels eack blow. Care should 
be taken that the blows of the hammer are as 
nearly as possible of the same energy. 

Having found a good barrel, be sure that the 
stock is of the best. The stock should be well 
seasoned and the grain of the fore part under 
the barrel should run parallel with the barrel; 



20 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

otherwise, if tlie stock warps from moisture, it 
will pull and press unevenly on the barrel and 
change the shooting of the piece. As the bar- 
rel heats up from firing it will increase in length, 
the average increase during a skirmish run be- 
ing .02 inch; and if the bands which bind the 
stock to the barrel are very tight and retard 
this expansion, the barrel will actually buckle or 
bend; thus as the gun heats up the bullets will 
either fly higher or lower, generally the latter. 
Allowance has been made in the fitting of the 
bands to allow the barrel to expand freely, but 
often a stock and hand-guard will swell from 
moisture, particularly in a damp climate like the 
Philippine Islands. If such has occurred, the 
stock and hand-guard should be removed and 
the surfaces where thev come in contact with 
the barrel and upper band should be slightly 
smoothed down with sand-paper so that the bar- 
rel will be free to exoand, and the upper band 
will go back to its place by the pressure of the 
hand alone. This should be done only wheri 
necessary and should not be carried too far, as 
the stock and hand-guard should give firm and 
even support to the barrel to enable it to do the 
most regular work. It is not believed that this 
treatment is regarded as a violation of Para- 
graph 287, Army Regulations, which prohibits 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 21 

the mutilation of any part of a rifle by filing or 
otherwise. Unlisted men desiring to take their 
rifles aoart should obtain the permission of a 
commissioned officer. 

If the' trigger pull does not suit you, do not 
attempt to alter it by grinding down the sear 
nose and sear notch, as I have seen many do. 
This is very dangerous, often causing premature 
discharges ; and besides, it is a distinct violation 
of the above-mentioned paragraph, and renders 
one's rifle liable to be disqualified at any time. 
Instead try placin.g other firing-pins in your bolt, 
and you will quickly find one which will give 
a good, clean pull without drag or grate. With 
the majority of rifles the pull is satisfactory as 
issued. The minimum pull allowed by regula- 
tions is three pounds, and is tested by applying 
the weight to the middle of the trigger so that 
the pull will come in a line parallel to the barrel 
of the rifle. It is not really desirable to have 
the pull approach the minimum in weight. A 
clean pull of five pounds feels lighter to the 
finger than one of three pounds containing a 
drag. 



CHAPTER 11. 



The; Care: of the: RiFi^e:. 

A rifle requires a large amount of care to 
keep it in perfect condition. More rifles in the 
hands of troops are injured by cleaning and by 
the lack of proper cleaning than in any other 
way. In the days of black powder all that was 
necessary was to wipe out the powder dirt with 
water and rags, dry the bore/ and apply oil ; but 
such treatment, or, rather, lack of treatment, 
would ruin one of our present rifles in about 
three days. The proper cleaning of a modern 
rifle is a complicated chemical process, and this 
must be realized if one wishes the good shoot- 
ing qualities of his piece to last for more than a 
few days. I have seen many rifles which after 
a week's use on the range were absolutely use- 
less for good shooting, being pitted, rusted, and 
filled with an accumulation of cupro - nickel ; 
and I have also seen thousands of rifles which 
were bright, clean, and free from rust, but 
which were absolutely useless for accurate work 

-22- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 23 

from having been cleaned from the muzzle. If 
a rifle is cleaned from the muzzle, it takes only 
a few days for the cleaning-rod to dull the muz- 
zle, and then the gun begins to scatter. The rea- 
son for this has been given in the previous chap- 
ter. A ''pull through" or thong, if used right 
(that is,inseited in the muzzle and pulled through 
to the breech), does not injure the muzzle; but it 
is a very hard and tedious process to clean a rifle 
thoroughly with a ihong. Moreover, the thong 
is liable to break, and of all obstructions in the 
barrel a broken thong is the hardest to get out. 
The' only safe way of cleaning is from the breech 
with a long cleaning-rod. This rod should be 
36 inches long and made of ^-inch tool steel 
or brass with a tip like the cut. The expert 
shot prefers a steel rod, because experience 
proves that dirt will stick to the softer metal 
and cut into the harder. For a company, 
however, brass is best, for with inexperienced 
men the time will come when one of them 
wi]l get a rag and rod stuck in the barrel, 
and in a case like this the steel rod may in- 
jure the barrel while being removed. For clean- 
ing use preferably Canton flannel patches about 
an inch square, the exact size to be determined 
by experiment. The rags should not fit the bar- 
rel very tightly, and no great force should be' 



24 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

necessary to push them through or pull them 
back. This is important. Also be sure not to 
use damp rags or rags of poor or thin cloth that 
the point of the rod may puncture. A rag stuck 
in the barrel is a very dangerous thing for the 
piece. 

To clean a rifle, remove the bolt, place the 
muzzle on the floor, barrel vertical, and never re- 
move the muzzle from the floor. Place a patch 
in the bolt well and with the little finger center it 
down over the chamber, then center it with the 
point of the rod, push it down to the floor, and 
pull it back, working it up or down four or five 
times. This will clean all the bore except about 
an eighth of an inch of the muzzle end. To clean 
this, use a patch on a pointed pine stick, and 
with the same stick clean the chamber. 

The fouling caused by the service cartridge 
may be divided under three heads. 

First, a black carbon fouling. This is easily 
seen, and one or two rags will wipe it out, when 
the barrel appears clean; but look out, for it is 
not, and if the cleaning progresses no farther 
than this, the barrel will be so pitted and rusted 
in a day or two as to be ruined. 

Second, a sticky and almost transparent foul- 
ing. This is very acid in its action, through the 
incorporation in it of the products of the primer 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 25 



out 



FIGURE 2. 
Tip of the Cleaning-Rod. 



26 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

combustion, and will soon set up rust if not re- 
moved. It is almost proof against water or oil, 
sticks very tenaciously to the bore, and is actual- 
ly driven into the pores of the metal, sweating 
out to the surface gradually for several days 
after firing. This explains why rifles, cleaned 
in the ordinary way after firing, are found sev- 
eral days afterwards dirty and rusty inside. To 
remove it, some alkaline cleaning solution is 
necessary. I mention a number of efficient ones 
in order that you may choose the one most con- 
venient or the one easiest obtainable in an out- 
of-the-way place. 

. In the field boiling water poured through the 
barrel will do in a pinch. Remove the bolt and 
magazine floor plate, spring and follower, and 
look out for the stock, hand-guard, and sights, 
then dry thoroughly. This is not very efficient, 
however. A saturated solution of sal-soda and 
water is good. This is very alkaline and must be 
removed and the bore dried immediately after 
use. Sal-soda is provided by the Ordnance De- 
partment for the purpose, and may be procured 
therefrom by a company on approved requisition. 
Aqua ammonia containing 28 per cent gas is ex- 
cellent, but it also must be removed from the 
bore immediately after use. The best prepara- 
tion, however, found so far is a liquid termed 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 27 

Powder Solvent No. 9, prepared and sold by 
trank A. Hoppe, 1741 North Darien Street, 
Philadelphia. Many riflemen also use a solution 
devised by Dr. W. G. Hudson, composed as 
follows : 

Kerosene oil, free from acid, 2 ounces ; 

Sperm oil, i ounce ; 

Turpentine, i ounce ; 

Acetone, i ounce. 
These last two preparations may be left in the 
bore, being fairly good rust-preventatives, for a 
day or two after applying. When shooting the 
rifle daily, I prefer after cleaning to pass a rag 
wet with Powder Solvent No. 9 through the 
bore. It seems to neutralize any acid fouling 
which may sweat out of the pores of the metal 
over night, and is easily removed from the bore 
the next morning with a few patches, making 
the use of gasoline or chloroform unnecessary. 
When a gun has not been cleaned for forty-eight 
hours and a clean patch pushed throug'h comes 
out clean, then the gun may be oiled with cosmic 
oil and put away with safety. 

Third, metal fouling, sometimes called cupro- 
nickel fouling or nickeling. This consists of 
particles of the cupro-nickel jacket of the bullet, 
and is welded to the bore by the heat and pres- 
sure. In the muzzle half of the barrel it appears 



28 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

in the form of small lumps or flakes clearly dis- 
cernible to the eye. In the breech half it is more 
like a thin plating or wash. It occurs more in 
roughly bored barrels than in smooth ones, stick- 
ing tightly to the rough places ; also more in bar- 
rels that have been fired considerably than in new 
ones. It is really an obstruction to the bore, and 
accumulates more and more with every shot, so 
that after about fifty shots the rifle may change 
its elevation and zero considerably, and in ag- 
gravated cases it greatly enlarges the shot 
group. When deposited, it imprisons the acid 
fouling under it, and as in this case the ordinary 
cleaning solutions cannot get at the latter foul- 
ing, it follows that a barrel not cleaned regularly 
from metal fouling will become pitted under that 
fouling. This metal fouling should be removed 
about every fifty rounds with the nickel fouling 
solution, in order to get the best work from the 
barrel. For the proper preservation of the rifle, 
it should certainly be removed every evening 
after firing has ceased. 

We now come to 

The: Prope:r Method oe Ci.e:aning. 

As soon as possible after firing, clean the bore 
with any of the solutions mentioned under "acid 
fouling'' and dry with clean patches. If the bar- 
rel is still hot, put it to one side until it cools be- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 29 

fore proceeding further. Then place a rubber 
cork in the chamber and a rubber tube several 
inches long over the muzzle. Then stand the 
rifle upright and fill the bore, covering the muz- 
zle, with the metal fouling solution, the formula 
for which is as follows : 

Ammonia persulphate, i ounce ; 

Ammonia carbonate, 200 grains ; 

Aqua ammonia (containing 28 per cent am- 
monia gas), 6 ounces; 

Water, 4 ounces. 
This prescription is sufficient for about seven 
barrels. The- solution should be allowed to stand 
in the barrel for half an hour, not longer. Be- 
fore using it is colorless ; but when poured out 
of the barrel, if cupro-nickel be present, it will 
be a deep blue color, and all metal fouling, acid 
fouling, etc., will be removed. The solution is 
very corrosive to steel if allowed to evaporate 
on it, but does not injure it while completely 
wet; therefore as soon as the solution is poured 
out, the barrel should be cleaned of all ammonia 
with dry patches, and then, to make sure, a patch 
wet with oil should be run through the bore, 
which will saponify any trace of ammonia re- 
maining. Then the oil should be wiped out and 
the bore should have a five-minute polishing 
with chamois-skin patches coated with Acheson 



30 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Graphite, Grade No. 1340, procurable from the 
International Acheson Graphite Company of Ni- 
agara Falls, N. Y., at 60 cents a pound, post 
paid. Then oil the bore, and the barrel is per- 
fectly cleaned and needs no further attention. 

The application of this methad of cleaning will 
be made less difficult by attention to the follow- 
ing details : The various ammonia preparations 
should be kept in tightly corked bottles to pre- 
vent evaporation and loss of strength, and these 
bottles should have rubber or glass stoppers, as 
ammonia quickly burns up cork. The solution 
should not be mixed until wanted for immediate 
use, as it very soon loses its strength through 
the gas it throws off; and, moreover, this gas is 
of such volume that it will blow the cork out 
of any bottle, or burst the bottle. The best 
method of mixing the solution for the cleaning 
of a single rifle is as follows : Procure a small 
glass vial of about three ounces capacity, cork 
up the chamber of the rifle, fill the barrel full 
of water, and then pour this water into the vial 
and make a mark where the water comes to. 
This will give a measure for the correct amount 
of solution needed to fill the barrel. Pour out 
two-fifths of the water from the vial and again 
make a mark on the glass at the new water level. 
Now make two little measures of old cartridge 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 81 

shells which will measure approximately one- 
sixth of an ounce of ammonia persulphate and 
33 grains of ammonia carbonate. These last two 
are crystal, and this amount of each should be 
pulverized together and placed in the vial. Now 
fill the vial to the lower maj-k with aqua am- 
monia and to the upper mark with water. Stir 
slightly until the persulphate and carbonate are 
dissolved and then fill the barrel. You had best 
mix the solution out of doors, as the fumes are 
very strong. 

In some localities ammonia persulphate is very 
difficult to procure. Order it in good time be- 
fore the shooting season ; or, if you cannot get 
it, use the following prescriotion : 

Aqua ammonia, i ounce ; 

Ammonia carbonate, 25 grains ; 

Caustic potash, i grain. 
The graphite is used to restore the polish to 
the bore of the rifle and is a very important 
factor in retarding the rapid accumulation of 
cupro-nickel. The final application of oil is 
merely a rust-preventative. Good rust-preventa- 
tives are Cosmic No. 80, Soft, which is issued 
for this purpose on requisition by the Ordnance 
Department, and Gas Engine Cylinder Oil. These 
are very thick oils, and to remove them quickly 
from the bore before firing again, it is necessary 



32 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

to use gasoline or chloroform. Where the rifle 
is being used daily, sperm oil is good, as it can 
be wiped out quickly with flannel patches alou'j. 
These oils are very cheap, enougli for a season's 
use can be purchased for a few cents, and they 
are every bit ^s efficient as "3 in i" and the 
patent gun greases, which are very much more 
expensive. 

It is, of course, obvious that this method of 
cleaning cannot be used in active campaign. 
The best method of cleaning under these cir- 
cumstances is as follows : Carry in the haver- 
sack a small tin box containing sal-soda, a water- 
proof bag containing flannel patches, and a small 
metal flask containing Marble's Nitro Solvent 
Oil, or, if unable to procure it, sperm oil. I 
would also advise you to place no reliance on 
the thong and brush, which are intended for 
emergency only, but to obtain a Marble Pocket 
Rifle Rod, which has joints 9 inches long and 
comes in a neat leather case and weighs only 
8 ounces, and a Marble Rifle Cleaner, com^ 
posed of soft brass gauze washers, which fits 
on the rod. Clean first with patches wet with 
a saturated solution of sal-soda and water ; then 
dry and clean again with the rifle cleaner dipper! 
in oil ; then clean, again with dry patches until 
a patch comes out clean, and then oil. Repeat 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 33 

this cleaning the following day. 'l his is a make- 
shift, but the sal-soda neutralizes the acid fouling 
and the cleaner cuts out the worst of the metal 
fouling. Nitro solvent oil, the cleaning -rod, 
and the cleaner can be had from the Marble 
Safety Axe Co., Gladstone, Michigan, and also 
at most sporting goods stores. 

Except in an emergency in the tropics, no 
vegetable oil should ever be used in a rifle. 

The action, bolt, etc., should be liberally oiled 
with sperm oil. Raw linseed oil should be rub- 
bed into the stock by hand weekly and after any 
wetting by rain. The rifle should never be laid 
on the damp ground, as this will often cause the 
stock to warp, and often change the "zero" of 
the rifle. 

A piece of chamois-skin thoroughly saturated 
with oil is a good thing to carry to wipe the 
rifle off with after a day's shooting, to prevent 
the moisture of the hands from rusting the rifle. 
Once thoroughly saturated, it will last a lifetime 
and is a grea.t saver of oil. 

Never leave a rag in the muzzle of the gun. 
Tf the air is damp, it will collect moisture and 
rust the muzzle. Besides, you are liable to fire 
the rifle some day without removinsr the rag, 
when the best you can hope for is a ruined rifle. 

A company should be provided with a long 
cleaning-rod for each squad, and the men should 



34 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. ' 

be able to procure the various cleaning materials 
in the post exchange. The men should be thor- 
oughly instructed how to clean their rifles, and a 
company order should then be issued prohibiting 
cleaning in any other way; this order being 
aimed particularly at cleaning from the muzzle. 
The muzzle cannot be guarded too carefully. 

Before going on the range, carefully zvipe all 
oil or cleaning solution from the bore. The bore 
must be perfectly clean and dry before firing. 
The presence of any oil in the barrel will cause 
the first few shots to go high and exceedingly 
wild. For the same reason cartridges should 
never be lubricated nor wet with saliva. 

It is the practice of the best shots, after wip- 
ing the bore clean, and before firing, to coat the 
bullets with Acheson graphite applied with a 
chamois - skin. This graphite is made in an 
electric furnace at very high temperature, and it 
will easily stand the highest temperature found 
in the barrel. It thus offers a perfect lubrica"it 
to the bore and bullet. It is claimed that its 
use in this manner reduces friction, prolongs the 
life of the barrel, increases the velocity slightly, 
and prevents the metal fouling being deposited 
in the large lumps which do so much towards 
destroying accuracy. The rifle will shoot a trifle 
higher when graphite is used, but this seems to 
be very constant. 



CHAPTER III. 



The: Firing Positions. 

I. The Standing Position. 

The standing: position will be used almost en- 
tirely in short-range firing, or at longer ranges 
when the objective cannot be seen in the sitting 
or kneeling positions. Unlike the other posi- 
tions, no specific rule can be laid down as to how 
the rifle should be held. The conformation and 
muscular development of men differ so much 
that it is far better to allow them, with certain 
restriction, to select their own position, than to 
compel them to take any prescribed one. 

The standing or "off-hand" position may bo 
subdivided into four distinct positions : 

The full-arm extension, 

The half-arm extension. 

The body-rest, 

The hip-rest. 
We will take these up separately, describing each 
and showing to what class of men they are best 
suited. 



36 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

The following general rules will apply to all 
positions : 

The body must never be inclined forward, but 
an even, balance on both feet must be assumed. 
When the rifle is raised, the body should be in- 
clined very slightly backward to regain the per- 
fect balance which the extended rifle has tempo- 
rarily destroyed. A perfect balance throughout 
the whole body is very important, as, if any part 
is out of balance, that part is under strain, and 
hence will tremble: 

The right elbow must be held high enough to 
insure that the entire butt-plate from toe to heel 
rests against the shoulder. 

The head must not be inclined over the stock, 
but the right cheek should rest against the side 
of the stock. 

The right hand should do more than half the 
work of holding the rifle against the shoulder. 

In the first three positions the fingers of the 
left hand should nearly encircle the barrel, hold- 
ing it down firmly against the jump of recoil. 

The rifle must be held exactly the same, as re- 
gards grip of the hands and pressure against 
the shoulder, for each shot. It is actually possi- 
ble to m.ake the shots vary as much as 4 inches 
at 200 yards by varying the pressure. 

The feet in all positions should be about 12 




FIGURE 3.— Standing Position, Full-Arm Extension. 



38 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

inches apart, both resting firmly on the ground, 
knees straight. 

The Hulf-Arm B-vtension. 

Stand with the left side facing the target, left 
hand grasping the barrel so far out that the left 
elbow will be absolutely straight, fingers of left 
hand well around the piece. The right hand is 
well wrapped around the small of the stock close 
to the trigger-guard. The right hand and arm 
are to support most of the rifle's weight. The 
right elbow should be very high, at least 6 inches 
above the shoulder. The head should be leaned 
back, not forward, to get the eye in the line of 
sight. All motions to change position of the 
sights on the target are made by swinging on 
the hips. The left hand steadies and controls 
the piece with very little effort. 

This is pre-eminently the position for shoot- 
ing in a strong wind. It can be assumed best 
by tall men and those having strong deltoid 
(shoulder) and trapezius (upper back) muscles. 
It is not adapted to men who stoop, small men, 
or those deficient in muscular development. 

71'ie ^ull-Arm Extension. 

This is the best all around-standing position 
It is the best position for rapid fire, for snap- 




FIGURE 4.— Standing Position, Half-Arm Exftension. 



40 Suggestions to Military Riilemen. 

shooting, and for use when the marksman is un- 
steady from recent muscular exertion. 

Take the same position as in the full-arm ex- 
tension, except that the left elbow is slightly bent, 
left hand grasps the piece just below the lower 
band, and the left elbow is well under the piece. 
This last is important. Only the weight of the 
arm is allowed to pull against the grip of the 
left hand. The right hand does all the rest of 
the work of holding the rifle to the shoulder. 
When the bolt is worked in rapid fire, the left 
hand pulls the rifle hard against the shoulder 
and holds it in the firing position while the right 
manipulates the bolt. Figure 4 shows the posi- 
tion with the sling, which may or may not be 
Used. 

This position may be used advantageously by 
all men, and should be the first one taught and 
the one most encouraged. While it is the best 
for all-around shooting and the one which will 
give the best average results, it is the hardest 
one in which to hold the rifle still! 

The Body-Rest Position. 

The left hand is placed against and in front 
of the trigger-guard, which rests in the hollow 
( the hand, while the fingers are wrapped well 
^iiound the receiver and bolt handle, left fore- 




FIGURE 5.— Standiing Position, Body-Rest. 



42 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

arm is vertical, and left upper arm is resting 
against and clinging to the breast. Rifle held 
to the shoulder and supported equally by both 
hands, right elbow level with the butt, head ad- 
vanced into line of sight. All motions to change 
the position of the sights on the target are made 
by swinging on the hips as a pivot. 

This position is a very steady one. It is not 
adapted to rapid fire, as in order to work the bolt 
it is necessary to change the position of the left 
hand and take the piece from the shoulder. Nor 
is it adapted to snap-shooting, for it is a hard 
position to. assume quickly. It is not a good 
position for use in the wind. 

It is best assumed by men who tend toward 
stoutness, and those who lack muscular devel- 
opment will probably choose it. Thin men will 
fmd difficulty in resting the left arm against the 
breast. 

71ie Hip-Rest Position. 

The left elbow rests against the point of the 
left hip (pelvis bone). The rifle is balanced on 
the tips of the thumb and first and second fin- 
gers of the left hand. The thumb rests against 
the bottom of the trigger-guard and the fingers 
against the stock about 5 inches in front of the 
trigger-guard, left wrist held very stiff. Right 




FIGURE 6.— Standing Position, Hip-Rest. 



44 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

hand and arm same as in the body-rest position. 
The right hand must do all the work of hold- 
ing the rifle against the shoulder. The left arm 
and fingers support the piece. It makes the 
bones of the body form a structure from the 
ground up to support the rifle and takes the 
work almost entirely from the muscles. 

There ccmes a time in the shooting of every 
man who practices this position when he can 
hold absolutely still for several seconds so as 
not to be able to see any motion of the sights on 
the target. The trouble then comes in pulling 
the trigger, for the whole body is "frozen." This 
position is the steadiest of all when there is no 
wind and the marksman is not unsteady from 
previous muscular exertion. It is impossible to 
use it in the wind. It almost entirely eliminate^, 
vertical errors. It can be assumed best by men 
who are thin and those with small waists, or 
men who stoop. Some men cannot rest the el 
bow on the hip. All men who can assume it 
should be taught to use it, as for them it is the 
best position for deliberate slow fire on still days. 
It is obviously unsuitable for rapid or snap- 
shooting. 

It is my opinion that the best work in the 
standing position can only, be obtained when two 
or more positions are known thoroughly. For 




FIGURE 7, — Kneeling PosHiou. 



46 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

instance, the full-arm extension for use on windy- 
clays, the half-arm extension in rapid fire, snap- 
shooting, and under excitement, and the hip-rest 
for slow fire on calm days. 

2. The Kneeling Position. 

Assume the position as in the Drill Regulations, 
adjusting the sling as shown in Figure 7, and 
have it very tight. The left hand grasps the piece 
•just under the rear sight. The sole of the shoe 
should be very heavy, and one should be able to 
sit on the right heel so comfortably as to be ab- 
solutely steady. Few men can do this, and for 
those who cannot the sitting position is far better. 

The kneeling position is steadier than the stand- 
ing. It is quickly assumed and one can take up 
the advance quickly from it. The sling holds the 
piece steadily in the firing position while the 
bolt is worked in rapid fire. It can be assumed 
only on smooth ground. It is hard to use in fir- 
ing either up or down hill, and is a miserable 
position for those \7ho cannot sit comfortably 
on the right heel. 

J. The Sitting Position. 

Assume the position illustrated in the Firing 
Regulations or cross the legs as in Figure 8. In 
order to be able to hold steadily in the first posi- 



48 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

tion, it is absolutely essential to have large holes 
in the ground to support almost the entire sole 
of the foot in its natural position. The second 
position is very steady and can be assumed when 
there is no time for making holes in the ground. 
It is a little awkward to assume, especially for 
stout men. Use the sling as illustrated, having 
it very tight. Elbows should be in the hollow of 
the inside of the knees. When working the bolt 
in rapid fire, hold the piece hard in the firing po- 
sition with the left hand and sling and work the 
bolt with the right hand, the right knee assist- 
ing the right arm and the right elbow and knee 
never losing contact. The left hand must grasp 
well around the piece with the stock resting hard 
against the bones at the base* of the palm. Don't 
get the rifle up on the fingers of th^ left hand, or 
i<- will tremble. 

This position, even when one is obliged to as- 
sume it hurriedly, is a very steady one, and when 
time is available for digging holes for the feet, 
the rifle can be held almost as steadily as in the 
prone position. It is the only position which can 
be assumed when the marksman is on a steep 
hillside and firing downward. It is a very effi- 
cient position for rapid fire, particularly where 
more than one magazineful is to be fired. 



50 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

4. The Prone Position. 

Lie flat on the ground — the closer you can get 
to the ground the better. Lie at an angle of 45 
degrees with the target, not head on (see fig- 
ure). Spread the legs wide apart to allow the 
stomach to lie flat on the ground, thus taking 
away all trembling from this part of the body. 
Grasp the rifle at the balance or farther forward 
with the left hand, left elbow well under the 
piece, right hand at the small of the stock. As- 
' sume the firing position ; then lower the rifle, 
and noting where the elbows have rested, with 
an old hatchet dig holes for them. This is un- 
necessary on grass or soft ground. The elbows 
must not only not slip, but there must be no feel- 
ing when they are in position that they might 
possibly slip, for if this feeling is present, the 
position will be unsteady. The cheek should rest 
comfortably against the stock. This position 
without using the sling is as steady as the sit- 
ting position. When the sling is used properly 
as described below, it becomes as steady as a 
rock. This position can be assumed on any 
ground except that which has considerable slope 
to the front or flanks. It is the best position for 
long - range work, extreme accuracy, and rapid 
fire. It can be assumed more quickly than any 
other position except the standing. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen 51 

The: Use of the Gun-Sling. 

The gun-sling should be used whenever it is 
possible to do so. It is even more of a factor in 
fine marksmanship than the wind-gauge. By its 
use the rifle may be held absolutely steady; in 
rapid fire it facilitates the quick return of the 
rifle to the point of aim, and it takes up almost 
half of the recoil. I am opposed to any way of 
using the sling other than as shown in the pre- 
ceding cuts. The experience of hundreds of ex- 
pert shots* has proven this to be best and only 
practical way of using it. 

The sling is made up of four parts, the long 
strap, the short strap, and two keepers. To as- 
semble it, the plain end of the long strap is passed 
through the larger keeper, then through the 
metal loop of the short strap, passing from the 
undressed to the dressed side of the latter, then 
back through the larger keeper, forming the 
arm-loop dressed side out. The same end is 
then passed through the smaller keeper, through 
the upper sling swivel from the butt toward the 
muzzle, and back through the smaller keeper, 

*Wheii the word "expert" is used in this work, it 
is not to be understood to mean simply a man who 
has qualified as "expert rifleman," but rather one who 
is in every respect a finished shot and who is well up 
in all the theory and practice of rifle-shooting. 



52 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

the arm-loop being completed by engaging the 
claw of the long strap in the proper holes in the 
other end of same. 

The size of the arm-loop is adjusted to suit 
the individual who is to fire the piece, the loop 
being drawn through the upper swivel until the 
claw comes well up toward the upper swivel 
The claw end of the short strap is then passed 
through the lower swivel from muzzle to butt 
and brought up and engaged in the proper holes 
in the long strap, drawing the sling taut. This 
gives the parade position of the sling. 

To adjust it for firing or carrying, the claw of 
the short strap is disengaged and re-engaged ni 
the proper holes of the short strap, no change 
being necessary in the adjustment of the arm- 
loop."^ 

The essential points in the use of the sling are 
as follows : 

The tension must come from the lower band 
(front attachment) of the sling only. 

The arm-loop must pass to the right of the 
left wrist to prevent canting, and thence around 
the left upper arm, preferably above the swell- 
ing of the triceps muscle. 

The short strap must be loose in all positions, 
, as any tension here will cause the rifle to be 

*Circular No. 16, War Depart m'^tit, March 7, 1907 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 53 

canted to the right and will pull the butt away 
from the shoulder. 

The arm-loop must be made short enough to 
enable the rifleman to place a heavy pressure 
(about 75 pounds) on the sling — equal, of course, 
for each shot. This is what is meant by "hold- 
ing hard," and it will cause the piece to steady 
down like a rock and distribute the recoil to the 
entire body so that the shoulder will scarcely 
feel anything. 

The left hand should always grasp the rifle 
well around the stock, letting the stock down on 
the bones of the palm of the hand near the wrist ; 
for if this part of the hand be held away from 
the stock, the rifle will rest on the fingers and 
each separate finger will tremble slightly. The 
theory of the position is that the arm-loop binds 
the bones of the forearm to the rifle and to the 
ground or knee, and 'the heavy tension makes it 
a dead rest with a universal joint, the wrist, at 
its upper extremity. 

These remarks JDertain more particularly to 
the kneeling, sitting, and prone positions. It is 
doubtful if the sling is of much use in slow fire 
in the standing position, except when shooting in 
a high wind, which makes the holding unsteady. 
In, rapid fire standing, however, its use as shown 
in Figure 4 takes up so much of the recoil that 



54 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

the rifle does not move off the target when firing 
or while working the bolt. 

In rapid fire prone and in skirmish, as the 
bolt is pulled back by the right hand, right elbow 
remaining on the ground, the left hand should 
move to the right and low, without changing its 
grip on the rifle, causing a corresponding move- 
ment to the muzzle of the piece. As the bolt is 
closed the left hand brings the rifle back to its 
aim on the target, and a little practice enables 
one to bring the piece back exactly so that the 
aim for succeeding shots is absolutely correct 
without further movement. When the knack of 
doing this is mastered, one can shoot faster and 
more accurately prone than any other way. 

The piece may be carried with the sling ad- 
justed to the left arm and held there by slipping 
down the keeper, in the positions of trail with the 
left hand, port arms, or ready, and the firing po- 
sition assumed instantly. With the sling adjust- 
ed as shown in Figure i, the rifle can be instant-' 
ly slung over the shoulder. In the field and in 
extended order drills and maneuvers all slings 
should be habitually kept adjusted in this man- 
ner — that is, in the iiriJig position. 

In firing prone the left hand should grasp the 
piece as far forward as the length of arm will 
admit. The farther forward this hand grasps 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 55 

the less will be the tremble at the muzzle of the 
rifle. A man 6 feet tall can run his left hand 
right up against the lower band, and should be 
required to do so. 

To some men the prone position with the 
sling tightly adjusted is intensely uncomfortable 
when assumicd for the first time. Fifteen or 
twenty minutes' practice, however, will teach one 
the knack of it. This must be remembered when 
teaching recruits to use the sling, and the loop 
should not be made too loose even at the start. 
The beginner should be sure to learn the use of 
the sling. One cannot become an expert without 
its aid. In company and team practice its use 
should be made compulsory. 

If a man cannot hold steadily when using the 
sling correctly, the fault can always be traced 
to his physical condition. My experience as a 
coach has taught me that during the shooting 
season men should have strong exercises for the 
arms, back, and chest daily. The setting-up ex- 
ercises are not vigorous enough. "Chinning" on 
the horizontal bar and "dipping" on the paral- 
lel bars are excellent. Strength enables one to 
hold hard and to prolong his holding after the 
trigger has been pulled. 

Summing matters up, the advantages of using 
the gun-sling are: absolute steadiness in the 



56 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

prone position; distribution of the recoil to the 
entire body ; quickening return of the rifle to the 
target in magazine fire; preventing the rifle re- 
coiHng off the target; and minimizing the ef- 
fect of the wind, fatigue, and breathlessness on 
holding. 



CHAPTER IV. 



HoivDiNG AND Pulling tiii: Trigger. 

By "holding" we mean that attempt on the 
part of the brain, nerves, and muscles to control 
or eliminate the trembling of the rifle long 
enough, while it is correctly aimed, to deliver 
the shot. Hence it will be seen that holding de- 
pends upon physical powers. It is impossible to 
hold a rifle absolutely still by hand. Even the 
best shots, when firing prone and using the sling, 
will, if they attach a telescope sight to their rifles, 
be able to notice a tremble of a few inches on 
the looo-yard target. Trembling or poor hold- 
ing is, of course, most noticeable among begin- 
ners, and gradually a man learns control and his 
gun steadies down. 

Thus it would seem that men of a phlegmatic 
nature have a great advantage over nervous in- 
dividuals. While this is so to a great extent, it 
it is by no means the general rule. Dr. W. G. 
Hudson, one of the most expert marksmen in 
the country, says: ''Much has been said about 
the ability to shoot well being due to 'strong 

-57- 



58 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

nerves' — whatever that may mean. Riflemen oft- 
en refer to an anticipated day's shooting by say- 
ing they are 'going to try their nerve.' According 
to my observation as a physician, however, nerve 
has little to do with it. I have had expert rifle- 
men under my care suffering from pronounced 
neurasthenia — the very word means weak nerves 
— and they could, even during the height of 
their disorder, shoot almost if not quite as well 
as when they were in good health." The trem- 
bling, of course, lies in the muscles, and any- 
thing which tends to give better control over 
and education of the muscles will improve the 
shooting. Men who from their youth have been 
laborers and rough farm-hands will at the be- 
ginning, as a rule, make very poor shots. They 
have never learned that nicety of muscular co- 
ordination which is necessary. When a man is 
clumsy, carries himself badly, is slow in learning 
'the manual of arms, etc., he will, unless edu- 
cated to shooting froni his boyhood, make a very 
indifferent shot. Mechanics, carpenters, and 
gymnasts, on the other hand, can be coached in- 
to good shots very quickly, for they have learned 
to control their bodies. 

Some men learn to put their whole will into 
the control of certain muscles, and they are able 
to hold the rifle in the hip-rest, sitting, and prone 



Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 59 

positions, so that no motion to the piece can be 
noticed by the eye. The trouble now comes with 
pulling the trigger, for the whole body, includ- 
ing the trigger finger, is "frozen," as it were, and 
when the finger starts to exert its pressure, the 
whole rifle moves. The brain is incapable of 
concentrating its whole will on two things at the 
same instant. Thus while the rifle is held cor- 
rectly with the top of the front sight just graz- 
ing the lower edge of the bull's-eye, the rifle- 
man's brain will telegraph a message to the trig- 
ger-finger to pull. But something else has hap- 
pened m the meantime. When the thoughts 
and control of the will were taken away from 
the holding and turned to the trigger-finger, the 
rifle was cast adrift without a guiding rudder, 
and if we were quick enough, we could see the 
sights drift off that little vital spot just before 
the recoil shut out the view of the target. This 
little fault must not be confused with flinching 
or jerking the trigger, for it must of necessity 
exist in everyone and can never be altogether 
eliminated. 

There are two ways of pulling the trigger of 
a military rifle. One is to gradually increase the 
pressure ounce by ounce until the gun suddenly 
goes off, in the meantime holding the best you 
know how, the report and recoil coming in the 



60 Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 

nature of a surprise. The other is to learn to 
put just so much pressure on the trigger that an 
ounce or so more placed on very carefully at the 
exact instant when it is desired to fire will dis- 
charge the piece. Both methods have their ad- 
vocates. I believe the latter to be the best way, 
for we thus have the rifle go off when we want 
it to, whereas by the former method we limit the 
accuracy to the average error of holding while 
applying the pressure. Rapid fire forms such a 
large part of a rifleman's practice to-day that a 
man should be able to fire his rifle the instant 
he sees that his aim is correct. However, the 
former method is a great factor in teaching a 
man to overcome flinching, and it is perhaps bet- 
ter to teach recruits to fire in this way, and then, 
when they have overcome all tendency to flinch, 
change them to the other method. Jerking or 
snatching the trigger is, of course, fatal to good 
shooting. Control of the trigger is everything 
in rifle practice. It is that part of the art which 
is soonest forgotten. When we change to a rifle 
with a different trigger-pull, we must learn it ail 
over again. Hence we should stick to one rifle as 
long as it remains accurate, and by daily trigger- 
pull exercises accustom ourselves to the pull and 
keep in practice. 

Flinching is the quick setting of the muscles 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 61 

at the instant of pulling the trigger to brace 
against the recoil. It comes from an instinctive 
dread of the blow of the recoil or from a nervous 
fear of the report of the rifle. I have seen men 
flinch so much that they failed to hit a 1 6-foot 
square shield placed 30 feet in front of the firing- 
point. Until this is conquered, of course, a man 
cannot shoot at all. It seldom demonstrates 
itself in gallery practice, but we will always find 
one or two men in a company who do it every 
time when firing the service cartridge, and who 
do not seem to be able to be taught otherwise. 
The remedy lies with the man himself, and if we 
cannot infuse into a flincher enough interest in 
the subject to make him work for his own im- 
provement, we nearly always fail to eliminate it 
by our own efforts or by any system of instruc- 
tion. In trying to help a man over this difficulty, 
start with gallery ammunition, then reloaded 
short-range ammunition, then use mid-range 
ammunition with a small recoil, and finally full 
service charges. Never let him use the more 
powerful ammunition for even a single shot un- 
til he has conquered the flinching habit with the 
less powerful loads. Insist upon a gradual and 
even pressure of the trigger. Be right alongside 
the man at the firing-point where you can speak 
to him in a low voice without anyone else hear- 



62 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

ing. Encourage him, and be sure, above all oth- 
er things, not to antagonize him. You must exert 
your whole being to dominate the man so that 
at the instant of firing, his whole will - power, 
thought, and attention are concentrated on aim- 
ing carefully, holding steadily, and pulling the 
trigger gradually ; so that the factors of recoil 
and report are blotted from his mind. Two or 
three good scores obtained from a poor shot in 
this manner will in all probability cure him of 
flinching and he will quickly be shooting up with 
the best shots. I know of no harder work for a 
coach than this. If the proper amount of will- 
power is concentrated on the flincher to get a 
good score for him, the coach will be pretty well 
exhausted. 

I remember a private in my company who was 
one of the worst flinchers I ever saw. When he 
first came to the range, I started him in at lOO 
yards ; 30 feet in front of the firing-point was 
a protective screen 16 feet square with a 2-foot 
window in the center, through which the target 
could be seen. Sometimes he hit that screen and 
sometimes he did not, and although he fired forty 
shots, he did not get a single bullet through that 
window. The man persevered, and so did I. 
He was made of the right stuff, and by the end 
of the season he was a fair shot, but it was 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 63 

awfully hard work. The next year he quali- 
fied as a sharpshooter and shot on two winning 
teams. 

We have seen how the physical powers enter 
into holding and pulling the trigger. It there- 
fore follows that anything which tends to im- 
prove or injure the physical condition will affect 
shooting to some extent. By cutting out smok- 
ing and drinking and taking up gymnastics, out- 
door exercise, and a careful diet, we improve our 
bodies ; but a sudden change of this kind will al- 
ways hurt a man's shooting until he has become 
accustomed to the change. The time to institute 
such a reform is long before the shooting sea- 
son starts ; otherwise, moderation should be the 
keynote of all habits. A strong, muscular man 
will always have an advantage over a weak man 
in military shooting. The weak man may be 
able to shoot a score or two as well as his strong- 
er brother, but the latter can hold so hard that 
the recoil is scarcely felt, while the former will 
be so kicked around that as the shooting pro- 
gresses his work will fall off. In competitions 
like those in the regular Army, where the com- 
petitor has to compete at his post for top score 
and then go through two severe competitions 
of six days' duration each, strength becomes an 



64 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

enormous factor. So, too, in a strong wind the 
powerful man can hold his |-ifle more firmly 
against the wind than the weaker one. A tail 
man has a similar advantage over a short one. 



CHAPTER V. 



Position and Aiming Drii,i.s. 

Position and aiming drills are the A, B, C of 
rifle practice. Not only are they necessary in 
recruit instruction, but they should be included 
in the every-day work of the most expert. They 
practice one in the holding, the sighting, and the 
pulling of the trigger. They educate and hard- 
en the muscles and teach control. Starting a re- 
cruit in with this form of instruction, the coach 
is able to correct poor positions and teach good 
ones. 

A recruit must first be taught to see his sights 
correctly. There is no better system of instruc- 
tion in this than that laid down in the Firing 
Regulations. This form of instruction, however, 
gets monotonous after a time, and men should 
be kept at it only long enough to qualify. I be- 
lieve the half sight and the peep sight should 
be the only ones taught, and one or the other of 
these methods of sighting should be insisted up- 
on. The use of the peep sight should be encour- 
aged. This sight is used almost exclusively by 



66 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



^h 




FIGURE 10. 

Correcit Appearance of the Open and Peep Sights 

in Aiming. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 67 

nearly every expert shot in the country. With it 
the same amount of front sight is seen each time, 
thus ehminating the vertical errors in shooting. 
In different lights more or less of the front sight 
will be seen when using the open rear sight, no 
matter how careful the i;ifleman is to see the 
same amount each time. Thus with the open 
sight we have to be continually making allow- 
ances for light. With the peep sight, however, 
the light question becomes much simpler. To 
use the peep sight correctly, the top of the front 
sight must be exactly centered in the middle of 
the aperture and the front sight held just un- 
der the bull's-eye, as in Figure lo. The eye has 
a natural aptitude for centering objects, and with 
a little practice the top of the front sight will be 
centered exactly without effort. The middle of 
an aperture always has more light than the sides, 
and this also aids the centering. If we were to 
draw the top of the front sight down to the bot- 
tom of the peep-hole, we would have less light, 
and consequently poorer definition, and we would 
be unable to see the same amount of front sight 
each time. 

Some men have difficulty in seeing the bull's- 
eye distinctly when aiming. It may appear gray 
and blurred. In this case center the bull's-eye in 
the peep sight, instead of the front sight; bring- 



68 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

ing the front sight to its correct position relative 
to the buH's-eye. 

The open sight should never be wholly disre- 
garded, as many target shots often do. In the 
field the open sight will have to be used in dim 
lights and against certain kinds of targets. 

When the recruit has qualified on the tripod in 
correctly seeing both open and peep sights, he 
should pass on to the position and aiming drills, 
his first work in- this being under the eyes of an 
expert instructor and his positions being carefully 
corrected until he can assume them correctly as 
laid down in the chapter on "The Firing Posi- 
tions." The recruit is then encouraged to under- 
take ,the trigger-pull exercises, and afterwards 
the raoid - fir^ exercises in all positions. He 
should be taught .the great value of these exer- 
cises not only to the beginner, but also to the 
expert who desires to keep in practice. 

Gloves should not be worn during these drills. 
The instructor must insist that the men put all 
their will-power into holding steadily, sighting 
correctly, and pulling the trigger without disturb- 
ing the aim. Each man should use his own in- 
dividual position when, firing standing and sit-' 
ting, but when firing kneeling or prone, the stand- 
ard positions as given in Chapter III. should be 
insisted upon. The use of the gun-sling should 



Suggestions to Mililary Riflemen. 69 

be mads optional in the standing position and 
compulsory in all the others. The men should 
be taught to take up all the preliminary pull or 
safety creep of the trigger with the forefinger as 
they raise the rifle to the shoulder. Canting the 
rifle should be carefully watched for and cor- 
rected. It is best to allow the men to go through 
the exercises "at will" instructing them to con- 
tinue until they become tired or unsteady, and 
then to rest a couple of minutes before resuming. 

In a company the men should be taught to 
take advantage of every opportunity to aim at 
some definite object, pulling the trigger each 
time. To this end the men's barracks should be 
furnished with aiming targets. These should 
be small targets of the same color paper as the 
regular range targets with the bull's-eye or rapid- 
fire figure inked on them with India ink. Tar- 
gets should be made to resemble all the targets^ 
used on the range in the regular season's prac- 
tice, and they should be of such a size as to sub- 
tend the same visual angle as do these targets. 
Place those resembling the short-range targets 
at 4y2 feet from the ground for use in the stand- 
ing position, and others 20, inches from the 
ground for us^ sitting and kneeling. The mid. 
long, and skirmish targets should be placed 12 



70 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

inches from the ground or floor for use in firing 
prone. 

In these exercises the first exercise or "posi- 
tion exercise" is intended to develop the mus- 
cles used in holding the rifle. To this end it 
should be given as an exercise, and not as a drill ; 
that is, the exercise should be kept up just to 
that point where the muscle tires, in order that 
development may result. Also it should be given 
last; otherwise the men's muscles will be too 
tired for steady holding in the aiming and 
trigger-pull exercises. 

The beginners should be made to understand 
that rifle-shooting is a complex science which re- 
quires a large amount of intelligent practice, and 
that they cannot master it in a few days or even 
in a season's practice. If a man is left to make 
this discovery for himself, he is liable to become 
discouraged long before he reaches that degree of 
proficiency where his interest begins to rise with 
leaps and bounds. I have been shooting a rifle 
since I was a very small boy, but never have I 
seen the time when I could disregard the posi- 
tion and aiming drills. 



CHAPTER VL 



GalIvEry Praqtice and Cai^ung the Shot. 

Gallery practice is taken up next after the 
position and aiming drills have been thoroughly 
taught. It consists *in shooting at short range, 
50 feet to 50 yards, \yith a service rifle with .22- 
caliber barrel or the regulation rifle with a re- 
duced load. It offers a different and more inter- 
esting form of instruction than the position and 
aiming drills, with the same object in view — i. e., 
instruction in position, holding, sighting, and 
control of the trigger. It is well to start the re- 
cruit in at 50 feet on the iron target, for at this 
range he can see the shot marks and the prac- 
tice goes along quickly. After he has become 
proficient at this range, he should be moved up 
into the class firing at 50 yards and taught to 
"call his shots." This is where the great bene- 
fit of gallery practice comes in. Until a man can 
call his shots he is a very poor marksman, and 
indeed he cannot be coached info a better one. 
By "calling the shot" is meant the telling the in- 



72 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

structor by the marksman the exact point on 
the target upon which the sights were aUgned 
at the instant the rifle exploded. The marksman 
must form the habit of holding as steadily as 
possible and gradually increasing the pressure 
on the trigger, and then, just at the instant the 
gun goes off, he must catch in his mind a pict- 
ure of where the sights were aligned, where the 
rifle was aimed, at that instant. The recruit can- 
not hold steadily; his front sight seems to wan- 
der aimlessly over the bull's-eye and four rings 
of the target while he tries to pull the trigger off 
carefully; then suddenly the recoil shuts the tar- 
get from view\ It is the point where the top 
of the front sight was the quarter-second before 
the recoil shut it out of view that should be 
called. Immediately after having fired, he calls 
to the instructor where he held or where he ex- 
pects his shot to go, thus : "A 4 at 3 o'clock," 
''A bull at 7 o'clock," "A bull in the center," "A 
good hold a little towards 5 130 o'clock," or, "I 
got off just right," "A trifle low," ''At 7 o'clock," 
etc. If the rifle is correctly sighted and the man 
has called his shot correctly, the bullet should hit 
the target at the spot the man called. If it does 
not do so and the man is sure of his call, he 
should alter his elevation and wind-gauge an 
amount corresponding to the distance and direc- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 73 

tion of the hit from the point of call. Or, if he 
is sure that the gun was correctly aimed to hit 
the bull's-eye in the center and his shot is marked 
a 4 at 8 o'clock, he must raise his elevation 
enough to make the next shot fall in a horizontal 
line intersecting the center of the bull's-eye, and 
move his wind-gauge to the right enough to 
make the next shot fall in a vertical line inter- 
secting the bull's-eye. Then if the next shot is 
correctly aimed, it should hit dead center. 

Under no circumstance should a man be al- 
lozved to hold on any part of the target other 
than the bull's-eye to correct an error in sight- 
adjustment. The sight must always be moved 
to correct this error. One should always hold 
with 'the front sight just below the bull's- 
eye at 6 o'clock. The front sight should not 
touch the bull's-eye and a little strip of white 
target should always show between the top of 
the front sight and the bottom of the bull's-eye. 
This strip of white should be of equal thickness 
for each shot, as in Figure 9. It is of the great- 
est importance that men be taught to always aim 
in this manner, and it must be thoroughly im- 
pressed upon them at the very beginning of their 
instruction. So iinportant is this that, when dis- 
covered, any departure from this iron-clad rule 



74 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

should be an occasion for strict disciplinary 
measures. 

A recruit should never, if it can be avoided, 
be allowed to take up ran^e practice until he 
has learned to call his shots ; otherwise it is sim- 
ply a waste of ammunition. It is necessary in 
teaching this that the target be removed to such 
a distance that the men cannot see the bullet- 
holes ; otherwise they will call them instead of 
their points of holding. For the same reason the 
target should not be marked for about ten sec- 
onds after the shot has been fired. The bright 
men of the company will learn to call their shots 
very quickly, others may take a long time to 
learn it. It is thus well to start gallery practice 
very early in the season, so that all men may be 
qualified before the time for range practice. 
Too much gallery practice cannot be given. In- 
terest may be kept up by competitions, prizes, 
and privileges for the best shots. 

The regulation, gallery rifle is the .22-caliber 
U. S. Magazine Rifle, Model 1903, using the .22- 
caliber short smokeless cartridge. It is exactly 
the same as the regular rifle, except that it has 
a .22-caliber barrel. The cartridges are loaded 
into "holders" which are steel chambers similar 
in shape to the regular cartridge. These holders 
are loaded into the rifle in exactly the same man- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 75 

ner as the regular cartridge, and the rifle can be 
used as well for rapid fire as for slow fire. The 
rifle is extremely accurate at 50 feet, the range 
for which it is. intended. The ammunition is 
very cheap and has a penetration at this range 
of about 4 inches in dry pine. The arm is a 
most excellent one for the purpose for which it 
was designed — namely, for gallery practice in 
the instruction of recruits. It has the same ac- 
tion, sights, balance, and feel as the regular 
service rifle and is loaded in the same manner, 
making one perfectly familiar with the rifle he 
will use in the regular season's practice and in 
the field. 

The finished expert, however, will not be fully 
satisfied with this rifle for his winter work and 
gallery practice in keeping in form. It is not 
accurate enough at ranges over 50 feet to do 
justice to the holding of a really good shot, and 
such men quickly lose their interest in work 
with this rifle. There are two gallery rifles on 
the market at the -present time using .22-caliber 
ammunition which are accurate enough up to 
200 yards to fulfill the requirements of the most 
exacting. One is the Krag rifle, fitted with a 
.22-caliber Stevens-Pope barrel bv the J. Stevens 
Ai:ms and Tool Company of Chicopee Falls, 
Mass. The. rifleman must furnish his own Krae 



76 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

action, stock, sights, etc., the Stevens Company 
furnishing only the barrel, and mountins: it in 
the action. Many of the States have procured 
and adopted this rifle for gallery practice. The 
other rifle is the 22-caliber Winchester, single- 
shot rifle, equipped with the same sights as the 
Krag rifle (Model 1901, rear sight) and having 
a musket stock. It is made by the Winchester 
Repeating Arms Company of New Haven, Conn. 
Both these rifles lise the .22 long rifle cartridge 
(not to be confused with the .22 long, which is 
an inferior cartridge), and they will shoot ac- 
curately enough to group ten shots inside a half- 
inch circle at 25 yards, or in fair weather will 
place all their shots in the regulation bull's-eye 
at 200 yards. Black powder cartridges of stand- 
ard make are better than those loaded with 
smokeless powder. Smokeless powder has a 
very corrosive effect in .22-caliber rifles. The 
cleaning should immediately follow any use of 
the rifle and should be very thorough, using 
"Pow^der Solvent No. 9" if possible, and it' 
should be repeated daily for several days. These 
special gallery rifles are not adapted to maga- 
zine fire, and are not as suitable for company 
work as the regulation .22-caliber rifle. 

The gallery rifle has one disadvantage, how- 
ever, in that the marksman usins^ it does not 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 77 

become familiar with the trigger-pull and feel 
of his own rifle — the one he will have to use on 
the range and in the field. Gallery practice is 
not to be considered only for recruit instruction. 
It is of great value to the good shots also. The 
latter can, by its aid, keep up his practice during 
the winter mo'nths and in inclement weather. 
There is a saying, "Beware of the man with one 
gun," which is a mighty true one. To become 
really expert with the rifle, one must use liis 
piece until it becomes almost a part of himself; 
must know its trigger-pull, bolt, action, feel, bal- 
ance, sights, and peculiarities as he knows the 
alphabet. Thus the very best can be obtained 
from gallerv practice only when one uses in it 
the rifle he intends to use on the range and to 
stake his reputation on. Reloading reduced am- 
munition for the .30-caliber barrel was tried in 
the regular Army for years and was never satis- 
factorily done in a company, and for such use \i 
is not recommended. To produce a satisfactory 
short range .30-caliber load requires special tools 
and great care, and is indeed a special study ni 
itself. The load must be accurate enough to do 
justice to the holding of a good shot. In oth>'.r 
words, it must be capable of shooting into the 
same hole at 50 feet or into a i-inch circle at 
50 yards. It must not wear the barrel, and must 



78 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

not be too strong for indoor use. It must also 
be cleanly enough to use without having to clean 
the rifle during the practice. The loading of re- 
duced ammunition is discussed in Chapter XVII. 
These loads have also the advantages that they 
can be used for rapid fire and are almost as 
cheap as the .22-caliber ammunition. Many of 
them are accurate up to 200 yards and even be- 
yond. A .22-caliber rifle cannot be used with 
satisfaction at ranges over 50 yards in high 
winds. With reduced ammunition one can also 
use a miniature skirmish range exactly similiar 
to the regular range, but the targets, halting- 
places, etc., reduced in proportion,, so that the 
range will have a total length of 200 or any oth- 
er number of yards. 

Gallery ranges are easily made. Bullet-stops 
may consist of 10 inches of wood, sand-bags, or 
a ^-inch iron plate. The regular iron target is- 
sued by the Ordnance Department may be used, 
or preferably paper targets tacked on a wood 
framework set up just in front of the bullet-stop.^ 
Or you may go all the way to a miniature range 
exactly like the regular range, with butts, mark- 
ers' shelters, sliding target frames, and wind flags. 
Indoor targets may be lighted by lamps with 
reflectors placed just in front of and to one side 
of the target, so that their light will be thrown 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 79 

thereon. The best galleries are fitted with a 
trolley arrangement whereby the targets can be 
run down to the butt and back to the firing-point 
by hand, thus obviating the necessity of having 
a man near the target. The location of bullet- 
holes can be ascertained by having a cheap, 
powerful telescope trained on the target and 
rigidly fixed alongside the firing-point. 

If reduced loads are used, steel plates may be 
set behind the targets at an angle of 45 degrees, 
thus throwing the bullets down into a sand-box 
below, where they can be gathered up and re- 
moulded, thus making a saving in lead. 



CHAPTER VII. 



The: Sights and The:ir Adjustment. 

The front sight of the service rifle consists of 
an immovable piece of steel Hke a knife blade. 
When viewed from the rear, the top appears 
square and has a uniform thickness from base 
to top of approximately .05 inch. It is secured 
to the front sight movable stud by a pin. The 
front sight movable stud is secured to the front 
sight stud by a slot. The rifle is targeted at the 
arsenal and the front sight movable stud is ad- 
justed laterally in this slot until the rifle shoots 
correctly with the wind-gauge of the rear sight 
set at zero. A screw is then run through the 
stud into the movable stud, holding the latter im- 
movable. The front sight also is made higher 
than necessary at the arsenal and is filed down 
during targeting until the rifle shoots correctly. 
This targeting is done at 200 yards, and the rifle 
as sent from the arsenal shoots correctly at that 
range with the rear sight elevated to 200 yards 
and the wind-gauge at zero. However, as we 
will see later, peculiarities in eyesight or aiming 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 81 

may make a slightly different adjustment neces- 
sary with some men. 

The present rear sight is known as the Model 
1905 and has adjustments both vertically and 
laterally for elevation and windage. When the 
rear sight leaf is raised, three sights appear. 
The upper open sight is adjustable for ranges 
from 1400 to 2775 yards. The lower open 
sight in the triangle of the drift slide is adjust- 
able for ranges from 100 to 2450 yards. The 
peep sight in the lower part of the drift slide is 
adjustable for ranges from 100 to 2.-^c;o yards. 
There is also an open sight on the extreme top 
of the leaf for 2850 yards, being the extreme 
range for which the rifle is sighted. The leaf 
is so designed that as the slide is raised for in- 
creased ranges the drift slide moves laterally 
t^ the left to correct for the drift of the rifle. 
When the leaf is laid down flat, an open sight 
only appears, which is known as the "battle 
sight." This sight is permanently fixed for 530 
yards, or about the danger space of the rifle. The 
wind-gauge graduations appear just to the rear 
of the leaf, each line of the graduations bein,-^ 
called a point, and each third line being longer 
than the others. The wind-gauge is actuated by 
the windage screw at the forward end of the 
base. The leaf is graduated from 100 to 2850 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 83 

yards, the graduations for the odd - numbered 
ranges being on the right and those for the 
even-numbered on the left. A reference to Figure 
II will make this description clear. 

Next to the muzzle, the sights of a rifle are 
its most delicate and important part, and all men 
should be taught to guard them with the great- 
est care, especially from blows which would 
knock them out of alignmient. 

Accuracy in the setting of the sights is of the 
greatest importance in good shooting. The front 
iand rear sights are 22.1254 inches aoart, which 
distance is called the "sight radius." Now if we 
move the rear sight up or down a distance of 
1-150 inch, we will move the bullet or hit on 
the target approximately i inch (actually 1.084 
inches) for every 100 yards of range. That is, a 
change in elevation of 1-150 inch will raise or 
lower the position of the hit on the target 2 
inches at 200 yards, 5 inches at 500 yards, or 10 
inches at 1000 yards. In like manner we may 
find what any move on the sight will give on 
the target by the formula: 

Movement of Range 

Sight in inches ^ in .'nches 

=Move of hit on targst. 

Sight radius (22.1254 in.) 



84 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

x\n adjustment of sights to the fineness of i- 
150 inch is almost absolutely necessary in fine 
target work, but there are very few men indeed 
who can see to elevate or lower their sights an 
amount even as small as .01 inch. The distance 
between elevation marks can, however, readily be 
divided into four equal parts, giving an elevation 
reading to 25 yards. Consulting the table of 
sight adjustments at the end of this chapter, we 
will see that if we are shooting at 500 yards 
with a sight elevation of 500 yards, and we raise 
our elevation to 525 yards, our next shot will 
strike 6.2 inches higher than the preceding one. 

A rifle will seldom be found which will hit the 
bull's-eye in the center with the sights set at the 
exact elevation for the range. The difference in 
temperature and barometer from that prevailing 
on the day at the arsenal when the rifle was 
targeted, the difference in the velocity and fit of 
ammunition, of light, of peculiarities in aiming, 
the effect of mirage on the target, metal fouling 
in the bore, and the personal equation of the rifle- 
man are all causes which may make as much 
dift'erence as 100 yards in the elevation required 
for a certain rifle and man. Thus an. individual 
may find that when shooting at 500 yards his 
sights will have to be set at an elevation of p;?'^ 
yards in order to make a center bull's-eye when 
aiming and pulling the trigger correctly. 



Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 85 

Most expert riflemen have found it far better 
to use a small instrument called a "micrometer 
sight-adjuster" in adjusting the sights for eleva- 
tion than to rely on the uncertainty of adjust- 
ing them by eye and hand. These instruments 
snap on the sight and by means of a micrometer 
screw and scale can be adjusted to read 1-150 
inch ; thus the sight can be elevated to read 
inches on the target, and the very fine adjust- 
ments can be recorded and the sights accurately 
set at them again. This is a great advantage in 
fine target work. For instance, a man finds his 
average elevation for 600 yards to read 38 min- 
utes on the micrometer. He fires his first shot 
with his sights set at 38 minutes and it strikes 
18 inches below the center of the bull's-eye. 
Now if he raises his sight 3 minutes, or from 38 
to 41, using the micrometer, he knows positively 
that if he gets his shot off the same as the first 
one, other conditions bein/g the same, it will 
strike 18 inches higher, or in the center of the 
bull's-eye, for i minute or 1-150 inch additional 
elevation will raise his shot 6 inches at 600 yards. 
His correct elevation at 600 yards may be 38 
minutes, corresponding as nearly as he can see 
to a reading of 640 yards on the sight ; but with- 
out the micrometer he cannot be positive that 
he sets his sight at exactly this point. • 

It has been often asserted that the micrometer 



S6 Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 



sight-adjuster is not a military instrument, that 
it could not be used in the field in action, and 
that its use should therefore be prohibited. Let 
us take (the time here to look into this matter a 
little. Without the micrometer the error of set- 
ting the sights will be about .01 inch, that hav- 
ing been found to be as close as the human eye 
unaided is capable of making an adjustment. It 
has also been found that the error of the human 
eye in aiming with non - magnifying sights is 
just about I inch for each 100 yards, or 5 inch- 
es at 500 yards and 10 inches at 1000 yards. 
To these we must also add the mean vertical and 
horizontal deviation of the rifle or the radius of 
the shot group and we get the following table 
of approximate accuracy of the rifle : 



Range. | 


Error of 1 


Error of 1 Mean Verti- | 


Approximate 




Sight-Ad- i 


Aim. 1 cal and Hor- | 


Accuracy of 




justment. I 


1 


izontal De- | Fire Radius of 




1 


1 


viation | 


Shot Group. 


Yards. 


Inches. | 


Inches. | 


Inches. | 


Inches. 


100 


1.62 


I. 


.8 


342 


200 


3-24 


2. 


1.6 


6.84 


300 


4.86 


3- 


2.4 


10.26 


400 


6.48 


4- 


3-3 


13.78 


500 


8.10 


5- 


4.2 


17.30 


600 


9.72 


6. 


5.1 


20.82 


700 


11-34 


7- 


6. 


24.34 


800 


12.96 


8. 


7- 


27.96 


900 


14.58 


9- 


7-9 


31.48 


1000 


16.27 


10. 


8.9 


35.17 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 87 

From this table it will be seen, that the best 
shots, unaided by so called "refinements," will 
not be sure of hitting a man lying down at 400 
yards or of hitting the regulation bull's-eye at 
any range, and if he does his very best, he wih 
just be able to keep all his shots on the target 
at 1000 yards. It would certainly seem that the 
Nation will never be satisfied with this degree of 
accuracy for its riflemen. The use of the mi- 
crometer sight - adjuster eliminates the greatest 
source of this error and shows the great need 
of this instrument even in the field, or, better 
still, of a slight modification of our .otherwise 
perfect sight having a simple micrometer adjust- 
ment incorporated in it. One sight modified in 
this manner has already been made by the Ord- 
nance Department and the prospects for its adop- 
tion seem very good. The table also shows the 
need of a telescopic sight wdiich would eliminate 
the error of aim, and the accuracy of the rifle- 
man would then depend only on the uniformity 
of the ammunition. ** 

There are three forms of micrometer sight- 
adjusters on the market at present: the Stevens- 
Pope Sight Micrometer (see Figure 12), which 
snaps on the sight and is held by springs, procur- 
able from the J. Stevens Arms and Tool Com- 
pany, Chicopee Falls, Mass. ; the British Sight 



1 








. •,.v:.^^HW| 


W: i^^iJ^iiia#iiiaMi»imi 


<«MS^^d 






f ^ 


r 









90 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



FIGURE 14.— The Ideal Micrometer Sight Gauge. 



Suggestions to Alilitary Riflemen. 91 

Vernier (see Figure 13), sold by Thomas J. 
Conroy, 28 John Street, New York city; and the 
Ideal Micrometer Sight Gauge (see Figure 14), 
made by the Ideal Manufacturing Company, New 
Haven, Conn. H. M, Pope of 18 Morris Street, 
Jersey City, N. J., has also made a few mi- 
crometers of most excellent design and work- 
manship. 

So far, we have considered only the elevation 
adjustment of the sight. The windage adjust- 
ment, however, is of just as much importance. 
It gives the correction for horizontal errors and 
the allowance to compensate for the effect of 
wind on the flight of the bullet. To move the 
location of the hit to the right, move the wind- 
gauge to the right, and vice versa. The divi- 
sions on this wind-gauge are called "points," and 
for convenience are divided into series of three. 
On the Model 1905 Sight these points are 0.0267 
inches apart ; therefore, moving the wind-gauge 
I point will move the bullet 4 inches on the tar- 
get for every. 100 yards of range, as will be seen 
in the table of sight adjustments. It sometimes 
happens that the zero of the wind-gauge is not 
the true zero of the rifle, for the same reasons 
that a rifle does not always shoot correctly with 
the rear sight adjusted for the exact range. 
Some rifles may have to have the wind-gauge 



92 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

adjusted to as much as i point right or left of 
the zero on the scale to shoot into a vertical 
line drawn through the center of the bull's-eye 
when there is no wind blowing and the gun is 
correctly aimed. Up to the present time no mi- 
crometer adjuster has been made for the wind- 
gauge, and experience has proven that it is not 
so much needed here as on the elevating scale. 
A point on the wind-gauge can easily be divided 
into quarters by the eye alone and this will give 
an adjustment of J inch at the target for each 
lOO yards of range. One-fourth of a turn of 
the wind-gauge screw will move the wind-gauge 
I point, and one-sixteenth of a turn will move 
it one-fourth of a point, which is the same ad- 
justment that I minute on the micrometer gives. 
Let us take an example of sight-adjustment. 
Suppose the rifleman is firing at 800 yards with 
an elevation of 825 yards and a windage of 2 
points to the left. On the first shot be gets 
a "3" at 10 o'clock, and the location of this shot 
appears to be 20 inches above the center of the 
bull's-eye and 33 inches to the left of the center. 
If he now reduces his elevation 33 yards, or 'o 
792 yards and moves his wind-gauge i point 
to the right, or to i point left (see "Table of 
Sight-Adjustments"), and if the weather condi- 
tions remain the same and he gets his shot off 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 93 

correctly, he should get a hit very near the cen- 
ter of the bull's-eye. Of course, one cannot ad- 
just his elevation to any such reading as 792 
yards, but he makes a try at it, and gets it just 
a hair's-breadth below 800 yards, and has to 
be satisfied with that. He may have struck the 
correct elevation, or he may be as much as a 
foot out. 

If he was using the micrometer adjuster and 
his elevation for the first shot read 49 minutes, 
he would reduce it to 46^ minutes to lower the 
next hit 20 inches, which would give exactly that 
result. 

If, however, the rifleman was ignorant of the 
value of movements on the sights — that is, if he 
had no "Table of Sight-Adjustments,'^ and no mi- 
crometer, he might make too large or too small a 
move, and instead of getting a bull for his sec- 
ond shot, he would be just as liable to get a ''3" 
or a "4," and a continuation of this kind of guess- 
work would ruin his score. Thousands of scores 
and hopes for high qualifications are ruined ev- 
ery year in this manner. Given good muscles 
and good eyes, all men soon learn tO' hold fairly 
steady, especially in the pron.e position. There 
is really very little difference between, the hold- 
ing of a first-class shot and a very poor shot 
who has been taught to assume a fairly correct 



94 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

position. The good shot, however, calls his 
shots and moves his sights the correct amount, 
and after the first shot or so gets mostly "4s" 
and "5s" ; while the poor shot scatters all his 
shots over the target and perhaps gets a couple 
of misses. We thus see the great importance of 
fine and accurate sight-adjustment and the val- 
ue of the tables given. The shooting of a mod- 
ern riHe is just as much a matter of education 
and study as it is of good holding, aiming, and 
pulling trigger, and this t)oint must not he over- 
looked in the selection and training of recruits. 
Another great advantage in using the microm- 
eter is, that having found the correct elevation 
for one range, we can tell almost exactly, by 
reference to the ''Table of Rises of Elevation on 
the Micrometer," what the elevation for the oth- 
er ranges will be. I'hus if we have been firing at 
600 yards for the first time with a new rifle and 
have found the elevation to be 38 minutes, and 
we then desire to fire at 800 yards, never having 
fired the rifle there before, we will see from the 
table that if we raise our elevation 12 minutes, 
or to 50 minutes, we will have almost exactly 
the right elevation for that range. This is 
particularly advantageous in getting elevations 
for a skirmish run, a few trial shots at 200 and 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 95 

600 yards giving the data from which the ele- 
vations for all the ranges can be worked out. 

To be well defined to the eye without blur or 
glimmer, the sights must not be bright, and to 
show up well against the white target in aiming, 
they should be black. To obtain this dull black 
color, most riflemen smoke their sights in the 
smoke of a candle or a small piece of camphor. 
Some riflemen prefer to paint their sights with a 
liquid sight black. Dr. Hudson's formula for 
sight black is as follows: 

Ivory black "B" in japan (a black paste, 
obtainable from dealers in painters' sup- 
plies in I -pound cans), 5 ounces. 
Gasoline, y6 test, 12 fluid ounces. 

Add the gasoline little by little to the paste, 
mixing thoroughly after each addition. If it is 
found to dry with any gloss whatever, there is 
too much '"binder" in the paste ; to correct this, 
add to the paste a little powdered lampblack and 
work up thoroughly with the first portion of the 
easoHne, which is added. Gasoline is used to 
thin down the paste because of its quick-drying 
properties. This mixture will dry on the sights 
in a few seconds. 

If the. sights are smoked, they should be wiped 
free of all oil, and the elevation and windage 
scales should be carefully wiped free of black, so 



96 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



that they can be easily seen. No good work can 
be done with bright sights, and men should mever 
be allowed tO' come to the firing-point without 



their sights blackened. 



Tabli: of Sight-Adjustme:nts. 
Model 1905 Sight. 



Range. 



Yards. 



Value on the Tar- 
get of a change 
of 25 Yards in 
Elevation. 



Inches. 



Value on theTar- 

get of a change 

of 1 Point in 

Windage- 



Tncbf 



Value on the 
Target of a 
change of 1 
niin. of Mi- 
crometer 
Eleva- 
tion. 
Inrhep. 



100 
200 
300 
400 
500 
600 
700 
800 
900 
1000 



0.7 

1.6 
2.8 

4-3 

6.2 

8.6 

11.6 

154 
19.9 

25-1 



4. 


■ I. 


8. 


2. 


12. 


3- 


16. 


4. 


20. 


5. 


24. 


6. 


28. 


7- 


32- 


8. 


36- 


9- 


40. 


10. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 97 



Tabi^e; of Risks of Eli:vation on the: 
Microme:ter. 

For ammunition manufactured at the Frank- 
ford Arsenal with 150-grain sharp-pointed bul- 
let and giving an instrumental velocity, meas- 
ured at 78 feet from the muzzle, of about 2640 
feet. 
From 200 to 300 yards rise 3/ with micrometer 



300 " 350 " 


' 1.7' 


350 " 400 " 


' 2/ 


400 " 500 " 


' 4/ 


500 " 600 " 


' 4-3' 


600 " 800 " 


' 12/ 


800 " 900 " 




900 " 1000 " 


'' 8/ 



CHAPTER VIIL 



ElvEVATlON AND ZERO. ■ 

We have seen in the previous chapter that a 
gun is seldom correctly sighted for a given 
range at the exact elevation as marked on the 
sight. A rifleman shooting a new rifle changes 
the elevation on his sights until the rifle is shoot- 
ing steadily into the bull's-eye. He then records 
the reading on the sight or micrometer as the ele- 
vation for that range and for the ammunition 
he was then using. It is actually a fact, as will 
be seen later, that ammunition manufactured on 
different days or on different machines will re- 
quire different elevations. It is also a fact that 
different weather conditions will require differ- 
ent elevations with the same man, gun, and 
ammunition. The expert shot determines the 
elevation for a new rifle on a day having aver- 
age or normal weather conditions for the local- 
ity in which he is shooting. He carefully re- 
cords in his score-book, opposite this elevation, 
the exact weather conditions existing at the time 
of firing, and it then becomes his "normal eleva- 

—98— 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 99 

tion," from which he adds or subtracts to obtain 
his actual elevation under changed weather con- 
ditions. Elevations are subject to many changes, 
the causes for which may be laid to the following : 

Differences in ammunition. 

Temperature of air and rifle, 

Light, 

Mirage, 

Barometer, 

Hygrometer, 

Condition of the bore of the rifle. 

Condition of the eyes, 

Differences in position and hardness of 
holding. 
A rifle also changes its normal elevation from 
time to time. A new rifle is constantly chang- 
ing until the bore loses the polish which the tools 
gave it during manufacture and takes on the 
polish which the bullets passing through give 
it. The elevation of a modern rifle remains most 
constant between the two-hundredth and the 
twelve-hundredth shot, provided the barrel is well 
taken care of. The effect of temperature, light, 
mirage, barometer, and hygrometer on elevations 
will be considered later. Most guns which are 
bored near the standard size (.308 inch) have 
certain peculiarities of grouping their shots. If 
the barrel is clean and coated with oil, the first 



100 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

shot will go quite a little higher than the suc- 
ceeding group and perhaps a trifle wild. This 
is owing to the lubrication in the bore, which is 
burnt out after the first shot. After the first 
shot the gun will group its shots very steadily in 
one spot. If the barrel be clean and perfectly 
dry and free from oil, or if it be clean, dry, and 
the bullet coated with. Acheson graphite, there 
wi\ll be no difiference between the point of im- 
pact of the first and succeeding shots. A rifle 
having the bullets coated with Acheson graphite 
will require a trifle lower elevation than when 
the graphite is not used. If the rifle is fired very 
rapidly and the barrel gets very hot, the bullets 
will strike higher. 

It used to be thought that a shot fired from 
a clean, cold, dry barrel would go higher than 
the succeeding group. I have watched carefully 
for this during the last four years of practice, 
and have been unable to find any difiference be- 
tween the point of impact of a, clean, cold dry 
barrel and the same barrel where fairly warm 
and fouled. 

There seems to be a tendency for some pow- 
ders to deposit more of a sticky fouling in the 
bore than others. As this fouling accumulates 
the shots will drop lower and lower on the tar- 
get, requiring the sights to be raised. Then 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 101 

perhaps one shot may take out a great bulk of 
this fouHng and the next shot strikes very mucn 
higher. The accumulation of metal fouling will 
produce the same results. A rifle will shoot a 
trifle higher, and therefore requires lower eleva- 
tion, if shot in the prone position than if shot 
off-hand. It will shoot higher still if the barrel 
is rested on any object, such as a log, sand-bag, 
or intrenchment. 

There are many exceptions to these state- 
ments, however, and the only safe way of de- 
termining how a gun will group its shots is to 
fire seven or eight scores without changing the 
elevation during the score, plotting them care- 
fully on the target diagram in the score-book, 
and then comparing. 

In determining the "normal elevation" of a 
rifle, it is best to take it after about 200 rounds 
have been fired from it, and approximate eleva- 
tions found. Choose a clear day,_ with the bar- 
ometer an,d hygrometer normal and the temper- 
ature about 70 degrees (90 degrees in the Phil- 
ippine Islands). Choose also a time of day when 
neither the targt nor sights are in the shade, and 
also when there are no heavy retarding or ac- 
celerating winds. A fairly steady deviating wind 
does not matter. When the rifle is shooting 
steadily into the bull's-eye, record the elevation, 



102 Suggestions to Military RiHemen, 

and with it note all the data as to ammunition 
and weather; for instance, as follows: 

Rifle No. 333166. 
Normal elevation for 800 yards — 710 yards, = 

42 minutes. 
Fxankford Arsenal Ammunition, November 7, 
1907, N. G. S. No. 2 Powder. 
Velocity : 2649 feet. 
Light: bright sunny, 10 a. m. 
Mirage: light. 
Thermometer: 70 degrees. 
Barometer: 29.30 inches. 
Hygrometer: 50 per cent. 
Wind: 9 o'clock, 8 miles per hour. 
Fort Sherdian, iii., August 10, 1908. 
You have now the exact data for the normal 
elevation at 800 yards of this rifle and ammuni- 
tion, and from it you can calculate, in the man- 
ner shown later, the change in elevation neces- 
sary for other conditions of weather. 

By the zero of a rifle we mean that point on 
the wind-gauge to which the sight must be set 
to cause the rifle, when correctly sighted, to 
shoot into a vertical line with the center of the 
bull's-eye when no wind is blowing. It may be 
as much as i point right or left of the o on the 
scale, and is, of course, the point from which all 
right and left windage is figured. If, for in- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 103 

stance, the zero of our rifle is i point right, and 
the wind indications call for a correction of i 
point right, then we move the wind-gauge to 
read, 2 points right; but we have only taken a 
point of actual wind. The zero may differ for 
different ranges, and it may be to the right for 
one range and left for another. It may change 
a little with the changes of ammunition. Chang- 
ing from full service loads to reduced loads 
changes it considerably. On the Krag rifle it is 
often changed permanently when the rear sight 
is removed and then replaced. A blow on the 
front sight will often bend it so as to change the 
zero. Otherwise the zero is not affected by the 
many conditions which influence the elevation. 

The best way to determine the zero is to shoot 
on days when there is no wind, and carefully re- 
cord the wind-gauge readings. On some ranges, 
however, windless days are very scarce. On such 
a range take a number of correctly pulled shots 
which have hit the bull's-eye, subtract from their 
windage data the number of points which the 
wind at the time of firing called for, and average 
the results. If" the score-book has been carefully 
kept, the average will be the zero for that range. 

When the rifleman knows the normal eleva- 
tion and zero for his rifle at all ranges, he is pre- 
pared for accurate shooting and for competition 



104 Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 

work. Until these are determined, his shooting- 
must be largely experimental, or, as it is called 
in the Firing Regulations, ''instruction practice.'' 
The expert starts the season's shooting with a 
new rifle. He simply shoots it carefully through 
the various courses, keeping- all the while every 
speck of data very carefully in his score-book, as 
shown in Chapter XII. In a very few days he 
will be able to determine absolutely his eleva- 
tions and zeros from this data. Some men trust 
to memory for their elevations, but these men 
are seldom found among the prize-winners. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Windage and Winds. 

There is nothing which bothers the novice so 
much when he first undertakes range practice as 
the wind, and yet to the expert it is a very sim- 
ple matter. The wind is the greatest disturbing 
factor to the flight of the bullet that we have to 
contend with. The effect of a wind blowing on 
the side of a bullet is to cause it to travel slight- 
ly with the wind. Thus, if a wind coming from 
the right is blowing on the right-hand side of 
the bullet, the bullet will drift to the left, and 
instead of the bullet hitting the bull's-eye, it will 
strike over toward the left-hand edge of the tar- 
get. To compensate for this, we adjust oui 
wind-gauge to the right. This is all clear 
enough, but the lack of knowledge of just how 
much to allow on the wind-gauge for a certain 
velocity and direction of wind is the stumbling- 
block to most novices. 

In speaking of the direction of the wind, rifle- 
men consider the rifle range as they would the 
dial of a clock with the target at 12 o'clock and 

—105 — 



106 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

the firing-point at 6 o'clock. Thus, a wind blow- 
ing from the right at exactly a right angle to 
the line of fire would be called a 3 o'clock wind, 
and a wind blowing straight toward the marks- 
man would be a 12 o'clock wind. A 3 o'clock 
wind has the greatest deviating effect on the bul- 
let, and this effect decreases as the direction ap- 
proaches 12 or 6 o'clock until when in these lat- 
ter directions the wind causes no lateral displace- 
ment of the bullet at all. 

The direction and velocity of the wind are 
shown by its effect on the flags or streamers of 
red bunting with which every range is supplied. 
The rifleman judges the velocity by the way the 
flag stands out with the breeze. For instance, a 
wind with a velocity of i m.ile per hour gives 
a barely perceptible lift to the flag, while a 
25-mile per hour wind will cause the flag to 
stand straight out from the staff. Many ranges 
are also provided with wind-clocks, which are 
large clock dials with a single hand so geared 
to a weather vane that when the wind is blow- 
ing from a certain direction the hand will point 
to that direction. They show the direction of 
the wind with a greater degree of precision than 
the flags will indicate. 

As the velocity of the bullet is constantly de- 
creasing, and the wind will deflect a bullet trav- 



Suggestions to Military RiHemen, 107 

eling at a low velocity more than it will one trav- 
eling at high velocity, it follows that the de- 
flected path of the bullet with a lateral wind is 
a curved line, as m the case of the trajectory. 
That is to say, if the wind deflects the bullet i 
inch at lOO yards, it will deflect it more than 2 
inches at 200 yards, and considerably more than 
3 inches at 300 yards, and so on. 

The estimation of the velocity of the wind will 
always remain largely a matter of guesswork. 
Figure 15 gives approximately the amount of 
lift which the different wind velocities have on 
the standard streamer when the streamer is dry. 
When the streamer is wet or damp from rain, 
dew, or fog, it will not stand out as much, and 
flags of different shape, size, and material will 
stand out differently. If the flags on a certain 
range do not stand out as shown in this figure, 
the lift had better be observed and compared 
with an anemometer and a sketch made of the 
flags as they lift with the different velocities of 
wind. 

Being able in this manner to judge the direc- 
tion and approximate velocity of the wind, we 
turn to the table of lateral wind allowances, and 
from it are able to set our wind-gauge so that 
our first shot should be at least a "4." 

Let us take an example : We are to fire at 600 



108 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



35 MILES PgR HOUR AND VP . 




FIGURE 15. 
Flag Lifts for Different Velocities of Wind. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 109 

yards. We notice that the wind is blowing from 
2 o'clock and the flags stand out from the staff 
at an angle of about 45 degrees, indicating about 
a 12-mile wind. We refer to the table and find 
that at 600 yards a 2-x>'clo€k wind at 12 miles 
per hour will require a correction of i^ points. 
We therefore set our wind-gauge to read "13/2 
points right," for the' first shot. 

We have seen that 6- and 12-0'clock winds do 
not deflect the bullet laterally, but they do have 
an accelerating or retarding effect on the flight 
of the bullet, as also do i-, 5-, 7-, and 11 -o'clock 
winds, but to a lesser degree. A 6-o'clock wind, 
by accelerating the flight of the bullet, will cause 
it to strike a higher point on the target, and a 
i2-o'clock wind, by retarding the flight, will 
cause it to strike lower. The amount of correc- 
tion to be made for 6- and 12-0'clock winds is 
given in the "Table of Longitudinal Wind Allow- 
ances.^' Thus, if we are shooting in a 20-mile 
wind from 6 o'clock and the range is 1000 yards, 
our bullet will strike 51.4 inches higher than 
normal and the rear sight must be given a lower 
elevation — say 5 minutes lower with micrometer. 
Similarly, if the direction of the wind were 12 
o'clock, the bullet would strike 46.8 inches low, 
necessitating a rise in elevation of about 4^ 
minutes. 



no Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Often the wind will vary greatly in velocity 
between shots, sometimes doing it so quickly 
and frequently that it is impossible to follow it 
by adjusting the sights. In this case the wind- 
gauge should be set for the average wind and 
the rifleman should endeavor to get his shot off 
just when the flag blows out with that velocity. 
It hardly pays to try to shoot in a wind of over 
25 miles per hour. Always observe the flags 
near the target in preference to those near the 
firing-point, as the former give the condition of 
the wind where the bullet's velocity is the small- 
est and where it is most easily deflected. 

Often it happens that the flags will not show 
the true direction of the wind. They may be in- 
fluenced by hills, valleys, or a line of trees at the 
side of the range. In these cases the flight of 
the dust kicked up by the bullets which strike the 
butts, the wave of the grass, the flight of small 
insects, etc., offer valuable guides. The best 
method of judging the deviating effect of the 
wind, however, is by the mirage or heat waves. 
In order to see the mirage with ease, a pair of 
field-glasses of not less than 10 diameters (10 
power) is needed, or, better still, a telescope of 
from 20 to 33 diameters with an object -glass 
about 2 inches in diameter. When viewed 
through these, the mirage will be seen to drift 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. Ill 

Avith the wind. A little experience on the range 
will soon teach the rifleman how much to allow 
for a certain drift of mirage. Mirage is extreme- 
ly sensitive to wind, and shows clearly every 
change and current. The flags show the wind 
high up in the air and off to one side of the 
range, but if the telescope be focused on the tar- 
get, the wind indications shown by the mirage 
will be those directly in the path of the bullet. 
Experts have come to disregard the flags to a 
great extent and depend on observance of the 
mirage for wind judgment. On the Fort Sheri- 
dan rifle range, I have seen the flags giving an 
indication for 2 points right wind when the mir- 
age showed indications for i^ points left. Upon 
firing it was seen that the mirage indication was 
the correct one. It often happens, however, thai 
mirage is not present, and then the flags have to 
be relied upon. 



CHAPTER X. 



Mirage:, Light, and Atmosphere. 
Mirage. 

Mirage is that rippling haze or waves of heat 
which is so much in evidence when looking 
across ground heated by the summer sun. The 
effect of mirage is to deflect the image of 
the target vertically, laterally, or both together. 
When no wind is blowing, the mirage ripples 
travel straight up and the target image is de- 
flected upward. When a lateral wind is blow- 
ing from the right, say 3 o'clock, the ripples 
travel up and to the left, and the target image 
is deflected in that direction. With 6- and 12- 
o'clock winds the image is deflected straight up. 

In aiming when the mirage is present, we aim 
at the deflected image of the target, and not at 
the target itself. If the mirage ripples are run- 
ning straight up, showing a simple upward de- 
flection of the image, we must decrease our ele- 
vation. If they are also drifting to the left, we 
must use right windage. If both mirage and lat- 

-112- 





TABLE OF 


LATERAL WIND 


ALLOWANCES 




Range 


Correction in Points of Windage for Winds in Miles per Hour 
Blowing from 




1, 5, 7, or 11 o'clock 


2, 4, 8 or 10 o'clock 


or 9 o'clock 


Yards 




c 
"o 

Oh 


13 


o 




1 


^3 -2 

g 2 


^ !^ ^ 

^ f c2 ^ 


n 

"0 


200 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 






i 
1 

i 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


i 

! 

4 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 





i 

i 

1 

4 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


1 
f 

I 
1 


2 
4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 




\ 
I 
1 


16 
18 
20 

22 
24 
26 

28 


1 


300 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 




1 

1 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


1* 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 




1 
1 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


1 1 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 


1 
1* 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


If 


500 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 


1 


16 
18 
20 
22 

24 
26 
28 


i| 

11 


\ 

8 
10 
12 
14 


1 
t 

1 

11 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


8* 

il 

2f 
2f 


4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 


1 

1 

1- 
1- 
1^ 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24- 
26 
28 


2 

Si 
91 

2f 
2f 
3 
3i 


600 


2 

4 

6 

8 

10 

12 

14 


1 

i 
f 

1 

1 


16 
18 
20 
22 
24 
26 
28 


i| 

P 

2 


2 

4 

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Courtesy of U. S. Cartridge Co and Major E. Claude Goddard, N. G. P. 



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Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 113 

eral wind are very strong, the mirage may ap- 
pear to have only lateral with no upward move- 
ment, in which case only windage correction will 
be needed. No rule can be given as to the 
amount of correction required. The amount of 
mirage running, its velocity, and the strength 
of the wind are the guides. On ranges in the 
northern part of the United States the displace- 
ment is seldom more than 4 feet at 1000 yards, 
but in the Southwest, where the mirage may be 
very heavy, it frequently deflects the image as 
much as 12 feet. This displacement caji only be 
measured by setting a transit on the target at 
dawn, when no mirage is running, and noting 
the displacement thereafter. 

On some ranges mirage seems to occur very 
seldom, and when it is in evidence it seems to 
cause no displacement of the target image, but 
only blurs the outlines of the target and bull's- 
eye and causes them to "dance. '^ In a case like 
this, one cannot hold his sights as near the bull's- 
eye, and also the bull's-eye appears larger. When 
the mirage Is of this character, it will require an 
increase in elevation, instead of a decrease, j t 
is rather difficult to tell whether a slight mirage 
has any displacing effect, and in such a case it 
is perhaps better to' make no allowance for it 



114 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

for the first shot, as the allowance will be small 
in any case. 

Mirage can be seen when the light is bright 
over all the range and when the first half of the 
range is bright and the target half is shadowed. 
It is greatest when the ground is wet, on sandy 
plains, or where the range is traversed by water- 
courses. On ranges of this character, mirage, 
can be seen even on cloudy days and in cold 
weather. High winds will dispel it. The three 
diagrams will explain more plainly than words 
what to look for and the correction needed. 

To judge the mirage correctly, a powerful tele- 
scope of long focus is needed. One of about 30 
diameters power, with a 2-inch object-glass, i? 
the best, and it can be conveniently mounted 
about 12 inches above the ground and alongside 
the riflemen. Field-glasses of low power and 
short or universal focus mislead, for they shov^r 
the mirage near the firing-point, and not that 
near the target. 

As we have seen in the previous chapter, mir- 
age is a most trustworthy guide to the wind ve- 
locity and direction. The wind velocity may be 
determined by estimating the travel of the mir- 
age ripples in miles per hour. Wind at i mile 
per hour equals 18 inches per second. 




WIND FROM (> OR la O'CLOCK, OR NO WIND 
JMAGE DEFLECTED UPWARD 




WIND FROM THE RIBHT 
IMAGE DEFLECTED UP AND TO THE LEFT 



/ 


/ 


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/ 


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WIND FROM THE LEFT 
IMA&E DEFLECTED UP AND TO THE RIOHT 

FIGURE 16. 
Appearance of the Long-Range Targets in Mirage. 



116 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Light. 

The amount of light present on the rifle range 
and the direction from which it comes affects 
the clearness with which the target may be seen, 
the marksman's eyes, and the manner in which 
he sees his sights. When the sun is behind the 
target and shining through it, the bull's-eye ap- 
pears so gray that it almost blends with the white 
of the remainder of the target. A man with 
very strong eyes may still be able to aim at the 
bull's-eye, while others must be content with the 
calculated center of the target, and the scores 
suffer. 

The effect of light on the seeing of the sights 
depends so much on the strength of the marks- 
man's eyes and the pains he takes in seeing his 
sights exactly the same each time that no rule 
can be given. Light affects those who use the 
peep sight very much less than it does those who 
use the open. When using the peep sight, the 
great inajority of men decrease their elevation 
for bright lights and sunny days and increase it 
for dark lights and cloudy days. The maximum 
correction will seldom be more than 2 minutes, 
measured by the micrometer. Do not confuse 
the corrections for light and those for mirage. 
If the sights are shaded by some object, use the 
same correction as for a dark day. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 117 

Strong light falling on the side of the front 
sight reflects a glimmer on that side, making the 
front sight appear thicker, and the sights are 
thus really aligned on the target a trifle to the 
opposite side ; move your wind-gauge a trifle to- 
ward the light. Here the question of eyes comes 
in. Some men will have such strong eyes that 
they will see right through this glimmer, and for 
them no correction is needed. 

The open sight can be seen correctly and ac- 
curately when the day is dark or both sights are 
shaded. If the light shines strongly on top of 
the front sight, the glimmer will cause the sight 
to appear higher than it really is, and in reality 
a fine sight will be taken; raise your elevation 
slightly. Here again strong eyes may see through 
the glimmer and no correction will be needed. 
With bright targets lower your elevation, and 
with dark targets raise your elevation. 

These rules are by no means general. The 
effect of light on the seeing of the sights will 
have to be determined for each individual. 

The following rules formulated by Major E. 
C. Goddard, of the National Guard of Pennsyl- 
vania, will be found applicable in the majority of 
cases : 

Bright firing-point, bright target, B. B. 
Bright firing-pohit, dark target, B. D. 



118 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Dark firing-point, dark target, D. D. 
Dark firing-point, bright target, D. B. 

As will be seen, the first letter refers to the 
light at the firing-point and the second to the 
light at the target. 

When B.B. changes to D.B. lower your elevation 
" B.B. " " B.D. raise " 

" D.D. " " D.B. lower " 
" D.D. " " B.D. raise " 

If the sky is bright and becomes overcast, a 
lower elevation will be required, and vice versa, 
a raise will be required. 

If on a dull day the sun should appear and 
light up the sights, but not the target, higher 
elevation is required. 

If on a dull day the sun should appear and 
light up the target, but not the sights, a lower 
elevation, is required. 

A sudden overcast, placing the sights in shade, 
while the target remains lighted ud, requires a 
lower elevation. 

A sudden overcast, placing the target in shade, 
while the sights remain lighted up, requires a 
higher elevation. 

When the sky is overcast, and the light is of a 
dull gray, and evenly diffused, the air over the 
whole range is more likely to be of a uniform 
temperature, and free from local winds. Such 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 119 

weather is, therefore, the most favorable for ac- 
curate shooting. 

Temperature. 

The temperature has a decided effect on eleva- 
tions. When the weather is warm or the gun 
very hot, the shots will fly higher, with increased 
velocity, and a lower elevation will be required. 
Cold air offers more resistance to the bullet than 
warm air, and a hot barrel expands and offers 
less resistance to the passage of the bullet 
through it than a cold barrel. Low temperatures 
call for increased elevation. The change, for 
instance, between a hot day in summer and a 
cold day in winter, is considerable. 

- In order to determine the change necessary 
in yards on the sight, the rule is : Multiply the 
number of degrees of change in temperature by 
the number of hundreds of yards, and divide 
the result by lo. This gives the number of yards 
of increase for fall of temperature, or decrease 
of rise of temperature, to which the change is 
equal. 

A change of 7^ degrees of temperature is 
equal to i minute on the micrometer. Thus 7)4 
degrees rise in, the thermometer will require a 
decrease in elevation of i minute on the mi- 
crometer, for it will cause the shot to strike i 



120 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

inch higher on the target for every loo yards 
of range. 

Take 70 degrees F. for normal in the United 
States or 90 degrees in the tropics. 

When the barrel becomes very hot from rapid 
firing on a hot day, the elevation must be de- 
creased. In slow fire the rifle seldom heats up 
enough to one range to require a correction 
from this cause, unless the bore be very small 
or the bullets very large. 

Barometer. 

Changes in barometer cause changes in the 
density of the air, and hence make necessary a 
change in elevation, due to the varied resistance 
of the air to the flight of the bullet. If the bar- 
ometer is high, the air is dense, offering greater 
resistance to the bullet; hence greater elevation 
is required. The change shown by an inch rise 
or fall in the barometer has practically the same 
effect as a 15° change in temperature. A fall 
in barometer has the same effect on elevation as 
a rise of the thermometer, and vice versa. For 
high barometer, higher elevation is required, and 
for low barometer, lower elevation. A fall of I 
inch in barometer will require 2 minutes de^ 
crease in elevation on the micrometer, and vice 
versa. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 121 

It is seldom indeed that the barometer at any 
given locahty varies more than i inch. De- 
termine the reading of the barometer in your 
locahty, on a clear day when the weather is set- 
tled, and use this reading as "normal.'^ The bar- 
ometer, of course, changes greatly with altitude, 
j-nus the change from Colorado to the sea-level 
will be large and the corresponding elevations 
required at the two places will be considerable. 
The National Match teams of Western States, 
when visiting Sea Girt, New Jersey, have usual- 
ly found such a great difference that elevations 
have had to be determined anew. 

At low barometer, at very high altitudes, the 
atmosphere is remarkly clear, and the air offers 
considerably less resistance to the bullet. Very 
much better shooting can, therefore, be done at 
high than at low altitudes. 

It often happens that changes required by 
temperature are O'ffset by changes in barometer. 
Thus, at high altitudes we have a low barom- 
eter, but we usually have there also a low tem- 
perature, and as these work in opposite direc- 
tions on the elevation, the resulting change in 
elevation required is very small. 

Hygrometer. 

The hygrometer is an instrument used to indi- 
cate the percentage of saturation in the air. It 



122 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

consists of a chemically treated spiral chip, 
which, by its sensitiveness to moisture, actuates 
a hand on a dial. Much moisture tends to soften 
the fouling in the barrel, reducing the friction of 
the bullets in their passage and causing them to 
strike higher on the target; while in the ab- 
sence of dampness the opposite condition will 
obtain. On a dry day the air offers more 
resistance to the passage of the bullet, and 
on a damp day the opposite occurs. Experi- 
ence has shown that in humid weather, espe- 
cially if also warm, it is wise to start with a 
somewhat lower elevation than normal for the 
first shot, followed perhaps by a very slight in- 
crease for the next one or two shots; while in 
very dry, even though still warmer, weather 
the elevation for the first shot will need to be 
higher, followed by a somewhat greater increase 
than in the first instance for the succeeding shot 
or two. Each lo per cent of saturation is equal 
to about 20 inches in elevation at 1000 yards, or 
2 inches for every 100 yards. Thus, if the hy- 
grometer shows an increase of 10 per cent, lower 
your elevation 2 minutes, and the reverse for a 
decrease. Moisture in the bore may, however, 
produce opposite results in two rifles, one of 
which IS .001 inch larger in bore than the other. 
All corrections given in this chapter were de- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 123 

termined for standard rifles which had a bore 
measurement of .308 inch. 

It is not, perhaps, out of place here to speak of 
the bad habit of wetting the bullets in the mouth 
before inserting them in the chamber. This 
habit is a relic of the old .45-caliber black-powder 
days, and no matter how efficient it may have 
proved then, with modern ammunition it will 
cause the shots to fly high and wild. The cart- 
ridges should be inserted in the rifle as clean and 
dry as possible, or else should have a uniform 
coating of graphite. 

Rain calls for that correction, which is indi- 
cated by the hygrometer. There seems, how- 
ever, to be little difference in the atmosphere 
five minutes before a rain and that after the 
rain starts ; provided, of course, the temperature 
does not change. In practice it is safer to lower 
the elevation from i to 2 minutes when the rain 
begins. Use 40 per cent as normal on the hy- 
grometer for a dry climate, and 60 to 70 per 
cent for a damp one. 

Small pocket thermometers, having cases for 
their protction, can be obtained anywhere. It 
is not necessary to obtain an expensive one. A 
good barometer is expensive, and should be 
standardized and kept so. It is not absolutely 
necessary to have one in the kit. If one is at 



124 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

hand so that it can be observed just before go- 
ing on the range, it is usually sufficient. Hy- 
grometers can be obtained from dealers in scien- 
tific instruments and are not expensive. They 
should be kept in a case so as to protect them 
from injury. The thermometer should be read 
in the shade. 

Summary. 

Temperature : High thermometer, low elevation. 

Low thermometer, higher elevation. 

7^ degrees, i minute change on micrometer. 
Barometer : High barometer, higher elevation,. 

Low barometer, lower elevation. 

^ inch, I minute change on micrometer. 
Hygrometer : High hygrometer, lower elevation. 

Low hygrometer, higher elevation. 

5 per cent in humidity, i minute on mi- 
crometer. 
Rain: Lower elevation i to 2 minutes on mi- 
crometer. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 125 

Example oe Changes in Elevation and 

Windage Caused by a Combination 

OF These Conditions. 



RANGE, looo YARDS. 
Normal elevation, 940 yards or 57 minutes. Peep sight. 
Zero at 1000 yards, ^ point, right. 





Normal Con- 
ditions for 
normal ele 
vation 


Actual con- 
ditions for 
first shot 


Change in el- 
evation call- 
ed for on 
micrometer. 


Allowance of 

windage 

necessary. 


Ammunition 


F. A. 9-27-07 
2646 N G.S.Q. 


Same 






Light 


B-B 


D-D 


+ 1 




Mirage 


Light y 


Light \ 




14 R 


Thermome- 
ter 


70° 


80° 


-ly^ 




Barometer 


29 80 


29.30 


— 1 




Hygrometer 


60% 


70% 


2 




Wind 


9 o'clock 


4o'k 6 mi 




I'A R 




— 3^ 


1% R 


iVormal elevation and zero 


57 


yzR 


Sight adjustment indicated 


53H 


fi^R 



CHAPTER XL 



The: Scork-Book. 

The score-book is an absolutely necessary ad- 
junct to a rifleman's equipment. The science of 
rifle-shooting has increased so much during the 
last few years, and become such' a coriiplex sci- 
ence, that without some systematic means of fol- 
lowing all the various conditions and recording 
them accurately, one soon becomes hopelessly con- 
fused. Moreover, without a record of this kind 
our rifle practice teaches us nothing but holding, 
sighting, and pulling the trigger. One who does 
not keep a record is hopelessly handicapped 
when pitted against one who does. 

The score-book is not, as its name implies, a 
record of the score made in points. It is intend- 
ed as an exact record of the rifle, ammunitioii, 
and man under the exact weather conditions ex- 
isting at the instant the shot is fired, with also 
a record of these weather conditions. Any score- 
book which does not contain all this data is use- 
less from the expert's point of view. We record 
in our score-bopk first the ammunition used and 

— 126- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 127 

the exact weather conditions. We then make 
our calculations, set our sights, record their read- 
ings, and fire. Having fired, we record where we 
called our shot and the exact point where it hit 
the target. The official scorer at each firing- 
point takes care that the value of each shot is re- 
corded. We may put this down or not, just as 
we like, but we must put down the other data, 
for it is of vital importance. For recording our 
scores we should use separate sheets for each 
range and kind of fire. 

We will now take, for example, the case of a 
man firing at 600 yards and show how he keeps , 
a record of his shooting. (Follow carefully on 
Figure 17.) The man, as he comes to the firing- 
point, places his ammunition near his right hand 
where it will not get in the dust or dirt. He 
adjusts his gun-sling to his arm, assumes the 
correct firing position in a comfortable spot 
where he can see the target clearly, and places 
his score-book open on the ground near his right 
hand. He has previously recorded in it the read- 
ings of the temperature, barometer, and hyrom- 
eter, and the kind, date, and velocity, of the 
ammunition he is going to use. Finding these 
to be about the same as for his normal elevation, 
he decides to uSe that elevation and records it 
in the columns marked "Elevation," and on the 



128 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

first line of the form, which is the line for the 
first sighting shot. It reads 650 yards, or 38 
minutes. He now has to estimate the wind. 
The direction is "4" o'clock, and he records this 
under the column marked "direction." The flag 
flies out at just about an angle of 45 degrees, 
showing about a 12-mile wind. He records this 
by drawing in the column marked ''Flag" two 
lines — one for the staff and one for the flag-lift. 
If there is an anemometer on the range, he can 
record its reading in the column marked "Force," 
and this will give him his exact windage. The 
use of an anemometer makes one become quite 
expert at judging the force of winds, but it 
should be used for that only, and not be de-. 
pended upon entirely. He then examines the 
mirage through his field - glasses. This shows . 
nothing different from the flags, and he records 
its direction by a little wavy line. He then con- 
sults the "Table of Lateral Wind Allowances," 
which should be in the front of the score-book, 
and finds that this wind calls for a correction of 
i^ points right, and records this in the "Wind- 
gauge" column. He then notes that he has sun- 
light on both sights and target and records this 
"B. B." in the column for "Light." He then 
aims and fires his first sighting shot. As the rifle 
goes off he is comscious that his sights were ex- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 129 

actly and correctly aligned — that is, he "calls" 
his shot a bull's-eye, and so records it by placing 
a small dot in the middle of the small bull's-eye 
in the column marked "Call." He then watches 
the target until it is marked. The marker scores 
him a close "4" at 11 o'clock and he marks it 
on the target diagram by placing the letter "A" 
(for the first sighting shot) just where the shot 
was marked and drawing a little circle around 
it. He also marks a ''4'' in the ''Val." column. 
This shot, according to its call, should have been 
a center bull's-eye, but it has struck the target 
about 12 inches too high. For the second sight- 
ing shot he therefore reduces the elevation 2 
minutes, making the sight read 620 yards, or 36 
minutes. Ihe first shot has been very little off 
for wind, so he decides not to correct for that, 
and the other conditions remaining the same, he 
so indicates by placing small lines in their col- 
umns, 'ihe second sighting shot is also called a 
bull's-eye and is marked a "bull" well in toward 
the center, and so recorded, using the letter "B'' 
on the target diagram. The next shot is fired 
with no change in conditions or sight-adjustment, 
aftd also naturally results in a bull's-eye. This 
being the first scoring shot, its location is shown 
on the target diagram by the figure i. Just be- 
fore firing the second scoring shot, the rifleman 



130 Suggestions t& Miliiary Riflemen. 

notices that the flags are dropped down, showing 
less velocity of wind, and he therefore reduces 
his windage allowance to- i point. When he fires 
he is conscious that his front sight, instead of 
being directly under the buU's-eye, was under its 
left edge; that is, he calls his shot a "4" at 9 
o'clock, and he notes this in the column for 
"Cair^ by placing a little dot on the left of the 
small bull's-eye. Sure enough, when the shot is 
marked, it is a "4" at 9 o'clock. 

For the third scoring shot the conditions re- 
main the same, except that a cloud is passing in 
front of the sun and has cast a shadow over the 
entire range. For this it is safest tO' raise the 
elevation a trifle, and the rifleman decides to 
raise i minute, and so records it. This shot is 
marked near the edge of the bull's-eye at 2 
o'clock. Now this shot was called a center bull's- 
eye, but yet the shot is not very far from the 
point of call, and the rifleman may easily have 
made that much of an error in calling the shot, 
or he may have pulled it over there when getting 
the trigger off, or there may have been a slight 
let-up in the wind. The point to be noted, how- 
ever, in a case like this is not to be too ready 
to cnange for a single shot a little bit off, when 
the conditions do' not clearly indicate it. In the 
present case, however, it will pay to keep a close 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 131 

watch for any change of wind, and the rifleman 
closely examines the flags and mirage before he 
'fires the fourth shot, but no change is seen. 
This shot is also a bull's-eye^ a little towards 2 
o'clock. For the fifth shot there is quite a de- 
cided change. The sun has come out and illumi- 
nated aix the range and the wind has dropped 
down until it barely moves the flag and the mir- 
age is going nearly straight up. The elevation 
is therefore reduced i minute, and the windage 
reduced to % point. This shot is marked at 
3 :30 o'clock on the edge of the bull's-eye, and 
on looking through the glass to see the target 
marked immediately after the shot, it was noticed 
that the mirage was going absolutely straight up, 
showing no deflecting wind at all. The wavy 
line in the mirage column is therefore corrected. 
For the next shot a slight wind has sprung 
up from 10 o'clock; the rifleman estimates it at 
2 miles, and allowes a quarter of a point for it. 
This estimate, however, was evidently not 
enough, for he got a "4" at 2 o'clock. The 
wind continues to increase and for the next shot 
he allows i point. Also he fails on this shot .:o 
get a perfect pull-ofif, and calls his shot at 4 
o'clock, and gets a "4'' at 3 o'clock. This shot 
has hit where it should, so that, other conditions 
remaining the same, he makes no change for the 



132 SuggesHo?is to Military Riflemen. 

eighth shot and it results in a bull's-eye. The 
ninth shot also is fired under the same' conditionSv 
and results in a "bull'' at ii o'clock. This shut 
has struck a little high, and ordinarily, in the lat- 
ter part of a score at 600 yards or over, if we 
get a high shot, it is well to lower the elevation 
a trifle for the next ; but in this case the eleva- 
tion for all the succeeding shots has been so 
good that the rifleman decides not to change, 
and sure enough the tenth shot strikes high. 

The sheet now shows the exact record of man, 
gun, ammunition, and conditions, and becomes a 
valuable aid when, the rifleman again uses this 
rifle and ammunition at 600 yards. Ihe actual 
score is 46 out of a possible 50. 

It will be noticed that the target diagTam is 
traversed by dotted horizontal and vertical lines. 
The vertical lines show the amount of correction 
on the target corresponding to a change of a 
quarter of a point on the wind-gauge. The hori- 
zontal lines show the amount of correction on the 
target corresponding to a change of i minute 
in elevation. The small numbers ^o and 100 
at the side of the diagram show the amount of 
corection corresponding to a change in elevation 
of 50 or 100 yards. 

The blanks for the other kinds of fire dififer 
in principle so little from this one that they are 
easily understood. 



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134 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

The long'-range blank shown in Figure i8 is 
of sHghtly different design from the mid-range 
blank shown in Figure 17. It covers two pages 
of the score-book, facing each other. For con- 
venience in calculating the distance of the shot 
from the center of the bull's-eye, the target dia- 
gram is divided into dotted squares, the sides of 
each square representing 12 inches. The first 
column under "Call" is intended to be used as a 
check on the dots. "B" means bull's-eye, "6" 
a low call, "7" a 7-0'cock call, etc. A bull's- 
eye call is shown by placing the dot squarely in 
the middle of the square in the second column. 

On the long-range target page, the diagram 
at the left of the target is the plotting diagram 
designed by Captain K. K. V. Casey, of the Na- 
tional Guard of Delaware. "This diao-ram is for 
plotting the shots to show the characteristics of 
the piece with reference tO' its vertical deviation. 
When the score is completed, take, as a base to 
work from, the elevation used for the greater, 
number of shots. It will be noticed that every 
line is numbered at the top; the three sighting 
snot lines being marked by the letters 'SS.' 
Place, each shot on the line of the plotting dia- 
gram corresponding to the number of the shot. 
Also place the shots on their proper horizontal' 
line in the position they would have been in had 



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Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 137 

they been fired with the same elevation as the 
majority of the shots. When all the shots have 
been plotted, connect each of these shot-marks 
with its successor by a straight line. This zij^- 
zag line will give the rifleman an idea of the ver- 
tical deviation of the rifle and the manner in 
which it throws its shots. After several targets 
have been, plotted, they will begin to bear a cer- 
tain amount of resemblance to each other that 
will be apt to cause one to deliberate about 
changing the elevation where a shot has gone 
high or low." The score shown on this long- 
range score-sheet was fired with a Krag rifle. 

Figure 19 shows a blank designed for re- 
cording a skirmish run that has proved very 
convenient. Enter the data for wind and 
weather, then calculate your elevations careful- 
Iv for the different ranges, referring to your 
normal elevations and to the record of your 
scores in slow fire and using a trifle less eleva- 
tion. Enter the zero of your rifle at each range, 
and then calculate your wind allowances. In the 
instance given in the figure, the increase of the 
zero at the longer ranges was such as to cause the 
wind allowance to have the same reading for 
each range. It is well to write the elevation and 
windage figures in lead pencil on your cuff or 
on the magazine gate of your rifle, s6 that you 
can refer to them during the run. It will be 



138 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

noticed that the figures for elevation are given 
only in yards. It is impossible, with the short 
time limit in skirmish, to use the micrometer to 
adjust the sights. On the slow-fire score-blanks 
columns have been left for recording, the eleva- 
tion in yards, and this should always be done, in 
order to get the data for the skirmish elevations. 
The consecutive shots are to be numbered on 
a separate diagram by an assistant. This is- 
sistant takes his place immediately back of the 
600-yard firing-point. He is provided with a 
powerful telescope of at least 20 diameters, se- 
curely adjusted to bear on the target. As each 
shot is fired by the marksman the assistant, look- 
inof through the telescope, can note almost ex- 
actly where the shot struck, and numbers its lo- 
cation with the appropriate number on his dia- 
gram. After the marksman returns from the 
run, he copies the figures from his assistant's 
diagram on to his own score-blank. The locat- 
ing of the shots in this manner shows the marks- 
man exactly how much and in what manner his 
elevation and windage are at fault at any range. 
Recording runs in this manner, one can improve 
greatly at skirmish in a few trials. In the ab- 
sence of an assistant, the only possible alterna- 
tive is to visit the target and mark with a cross 
on the diagram where each shot struck, and then 



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140 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

make elaborate notes of where you saw the dust 
kicked up by the bullet at each ran^e. ^ 

Everytliing that could possibly be of value in 
the future should be noted on these score-cards. 
The more elaborately and carefully they are 
kept, the quiclccr will one get into the expert class. 
Improvement in marksmanship beyond a certain 
point is impossible without these records. 

There are a great number of score-books on 
the market. Some are excellent, some good, and 
a great number worthless. The sample sheets 
snown here allow the recording of everything of 
value and are easily understood by a man of 
good education, but, of corfrse, they would hard- 
ly be suited to a man who did not have that 
advantage. It might also be remarked that the 
latter's scores will never equal the former's until 
he has educated himself up to understand and 
appreciate these refinements. Our excellent rifle 
is a product of modern brains, and it certainly 
needs a certain degree of education or "bright- 
ness" to run it. 

Score-books should be printed on amber or 
light blue paper, so as not to ''dazzle" the eyes 
when used in sunlight. It is well to have a few 
loose leaves to use pinned to a board in the rain, 
thus saving the book. All the tables shown in 
this book, and the changes necessary for differ- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 141 

ent weather conditions, should be printed or 
copied in the front or rear of the book. One 
score-book is made with loose sheets filed in an 
aluminum cover, and is small enough for the 
blouse-pocket, which is an excellent idea. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Slow Firk. 

In slow fire the shots must be fired in a time 
Hmit of I minute per shot, the time to be com- 
puted from the full appearance of the target, and 
after it has been m.arked, to the discharge of the 
rifle. Usually two men fire on one target, al- 
ternating shot for shot, so that one man has a 
much larger interval than i minute between his 
shots ; but he has only i minute in which he 
can aim at the target. Calculations must be 
made quickly and entries in the score -book also 
hastened, so as not to go over this limit. If one 
will get his practice in these matters down to a 
system, there is plenty of time for everything. 
The rifleman should, if possible, make his cal- 
culations for the first shot and set his sights be- 
fore he comes to the firing-point. Arriving there, 
he should deposit his cartridges, score -book, mi- 
crometer, lead pencil, and telescope, if he is 
using one, conveniejit to his right hand. He 
then assumes his position and thereafter remains 
quiet. He should not jump up or move around. 

—142— 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 1-J3 

Above all, he should not hurry, but take his tmie 
and keep cool. He should obey without ques- 
tion all orders of the range officers, although he 
should not hesitate to appeal a decision which 
appears to him to be wrong or unfair. He should 
see that the scorer calls the value of each shot, 
when marked, in a loud voice, so that he can be 
plainly heard ; then the rifleman can immediately 
check him if perchance he should give a wrong 
value for a shot. If shooting in pairs, the rifle- 
man should pay no attention to the man along- 
side of him; in fact, the closer he attends to the 
details of his own shooting and the more he ob- 
literates all other incidents the better will he 
succeed. These remarks pertain particularly to 
competitions. 

Two sighting shots are required to precede 
the first scores at 500 and 600 yards. These 
must be taken and cannot be waived. Sometimes 
in matches, sighting shots are also allowed at 
200 and 300 yards. No warming or fouling 
shots are allowed, nor are they of very much 
value. The rifleman should not fire faster than 
he has to ; otherwise his rifle will heat up and 
necessitate changes in elevation from this cause. 

The rifleman should be very careful in pull- 
ing his trigger, and especially to avoid jerking it. 
In this respect he should follow carefully the 



144 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

instructions in Chapter IV. It is best not to take 
up rapid fire or skirmish until one has become 
fairly proficient in slow fire, and also until the 
pulling of the trigger slowly and without jerk 
has become second nature. If one has any tena- 
ency to flinch, he should stick to slow fire until 
he has entirely overcome it. 

If the first shot misses the target and the dust 
kicked up by the bullet shows the direction of the 
error, the correction for the second shot should 
be made as indicated heretofore. But if no dust 
or other indications of the error can be seen, the 
direction of the miss must be inferred from the 
conditions of the weather. If a strong side wind 
is blowing, the velocity of which it is hard to de- 
termine, the miss was more ^han likely to the 
right or left. If there is but little wind, if the 
day is either exceedingly dry or very damp, very 
bright or very dark, or if there is much mirage, 
the elevation assumed was probably incorrect. 

In the first case, where the deviation is hori- 
zontal, the wind-gauge should be moved to the 
right (if it is thought that the shot went to the 
left) a distance equal to half of the target. If 
this does not result in a hit on the target, then 
the wind-gauge should be moved in the opposite 
direction a corresponding distance from the ad- 
justment for the first shot. One or the other 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 145 

of these changes will almost surely result in a 
shot on the target. 

If the error which caused the miss appears to 
be a vertical one, the elevation for the second 
shot should be lowered a distance equal to half 
the target, and if this does not result in a hit, it 
should then be raised the same amount for the 
third shot. The rifleman should always change 
his sights, and never his point of aiming. 

It is extremely important for one to get u 
good pull for and to be able to call correctly the 
first sighting shot. Great pains should there- 
fore be taken with this shot. If this is done, one 
starts his score with correct elevation and wind- 
age, and the score will be good from the very 
start. Many scores are spoiled by uncertain 
sighting shots, and the beginning of the scoring- 
shots with errors of sight-adjustment. 

Before going to the firing-point be sure you 
have attended to the following details : 

The barrel of your rifle must be clean and dry. 

ihe sights must be blackened. 

You must examine the thermometer, baroir^ 
eter, and hygrometer, and note their reading?! 
in your score-book. 

You must have on your person: i. Ammuni- 
tion with bullets graphited ; 2, Score-book ; 3, 
Pencil ; 4. Field-Glasses or Tslsscops and ^.lount- 
ings; 5, Micrometer, 



146 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

On arriving in rear of the firing-point, and 
before you take your place thereat, make all 
your calculations, except possibly those for wind, 
and set your sights, and make these entries in 
your score-book. Then you will not be hurried, 
and will be able to get your first sighting shot 
off correctly. 

Before leaving the firing-point, one should al- 
ways compare the score in his score-book with 
the record which the scorer has kept, in order to 
avoid any possible error. 



CHAPTER XIIL 



Rapid Fire:. 

In rapid fire at 200 and 300 yards, a time limit 
of 20 seconds is allowed in which to fire the five 
shots contained in the magazine. At 500 yards 
30 seconds is allowed. This practice is conduct- 
ed on Target "F," which is the black silhouette 
of a man kneeling, placed in the middle of a 
white target 6 feet square. In timed fire, which 
we will also consider in this chapter, the tim.e 
limit is 3 oseconds for the five shots, and the tar- 
gets used are the regular slow-fire targets A 
and B. 

In these classes of fire the marksman takes his 
place at the firing-point, having previously made 
his calculations and set his sights, and he then 
fills his magazine^ loads one cartridge there- 
from, and at command comes to the position 
of "ready." At a signal given from the firing- 
point (trumpet or telephone), the target appears, 
remains in sight for the exact time limit, and 
then disappears. The marksman fires his five 
shots, emptying the magazine and firing at will 

—147— 



148 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

from the instant any portion of the target ap- 
pears until it has completely disappeared. Each 
imfired cartridge counts as a miss. The target 
is then run up again and the shots are marked 
on it in succession 

Usually a man will fire two scores of five shots 
each before leaving the tiring-point. He should 
therefore watch the target very carefully while 
it is being marked, and if there appears to be 
any error in his sight-adjustment, he should cor- 
rect it immediately before the second score. 

It will be noticed in Target *'F" that the great- 
est area of the black figure appears to be in the 
region of the hips. One should endeavor to 
have his shots strike in the middle of this re- 
gion, as he then stands a larger chance for mak- 
'ng a bull. The easiest way to do this is to aim 
so that the top of the front sight just to'ichcs 
the middle of the lower line of the figure, giv- 
ing the rear sight additional elevation to carry 
the bullet well up into the broad hips. 

At 200 yards it is best to use the open sight, as 
it is hard to catch the peep quickly enough. 

In ra]:)id fire it is far better to keep the rifle 
at the shoulder during tlie entire score than to 
remove it therefrom in order to work the bolt. 

In the standing position, assume the half-arm 
extension, with or without the sling. Immedi- 



Sicggesfions to Military Riflemen. 149 

ately after firing a shot, pull the rifle hard against 
the shoulder with the left hand while you work 
the bolt with the right. 

In the sitting position at 300 yards, the right 
elbow and knee should never lose contact, tor 
if they do, time will be consumed in regaining it. 
Make the knee follow the elbow and thus assist 
the right arm in working the bolt. Large com- 
fortable holes for the feet are of great assistance 
here. 

In firing prone at 500 yards, use the sling and 
assume the regular prone position. Having 
fired quickly, grasp the bolt handle with the right 
hand, turn it up and pull it back; at the sam.^ 
time pushing the piece over with the left hand 
so that the muzzle goes to the right and lov/. 
This latter movement makes it easier for tiie 
right hand to work the bolt quickly. As the 
right hand closes the bolt, the left hand brings 
the piece again into the position of aim. These 
movements should be thoroughly practiced in 
the position and aiming drills until at the in- 
stant the right hand regrasps the small of the 
.«^'tock with the finger on the trigger, the left 
hand will have brought the piece back so that it 
is correctly aimed at the targ?,t without further 
movement. This is entirely possible and easily 
learned when using the sling correctly in the 



150 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

way previously illustrated. One should be sure 
to get this manipulation down to a fine point, as 
it is used not only in rapid fire, but also in 
skirmish. 

In all rapid and timed fire and in skirmish the 
bolt should be worked as fast as possible, in order 
that as much time as possible may be devoted 
to holding, sighting, and pulling the trigger 
carefully. Have the bolt of. the rifle well oiled, 
so that it will run easily. Be very careful to 
squeeze the trigger gradually and to avoid jerk- 
ing it. Do not hurry. One has plenty of time 
In instruction practice it will be an advantage to 
have someone call each 5 seconds of time, thus : 
"5," "10," "15," so that the marksman may know 
how the time is going. It is easy to fire all five 
shots in 10 seconds, but this cannot be done with 
accuracy. One should endeavor to consume 
about 18 seconds in firing his five shots in rapid 
fire, and 25 seconds in timed fire and rapid fire 
at 500 yards. 

In rapid fire at 500 yards it is very import- 
ant indeed to judge the wind correctly. If the 
judgment of the wind has been wrong, then one 
may bunch all his shots on one side of the figure 
and get 4s or 3s instead of 5s. 

Very often an individual will find that he does 
not shoot in the same place in rapid fire as he 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 151 

did in slow fire. Many men will find that if they 
use the same elevation and windage in rapid fire 
that they would use in slo>v fire, their shots will 
group in the upper left-hand corner of the tar- 
get, or in other directions. These individual 
equations must be determined and allowed for. 

In firing in khaki uniform it will often 1)e 
found that the butt of the rifle will slip on thi 
shoulder during the firing of a score. If this is 
found to be the case, wetting the shoulder of 
the blouse with water will cause the butt-plate 
to adhere more firmly. If suspenders are worn 
with the web cartridge-belt, they should be let 
down off the right shoulder, as the butt of the 
rifle is very apt to slip on them. 

On Target "F," hits to the left of the figure 
count 4, while those to tne right only count 3. 
Therefore, in adjusting the sights for windage, 
it is well to calculate . so as to place the shots 
a little to the left of the center of the figure, so 
as to lessep the chance of an accidental ''3." 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Skirmish. 

In skirmish fire the target is known as Tar- 
get *'G." It is composed of two iron frames, 
one, the shape of the silhouette of a man kneel- 
ing, and the other, of a man lying prone. These 
are made to stand upright on the ground by 
means of suitable legs. On them is laced a can- 
vas covering, and the black paper silhouette is 
pasted on the canvas. The figures are set on 
the ground, usually on the -glacis of the targei 
butt. They are placed in line with i yard be- 
tween the centers of the figures, the prone figure 
being on the right, facing the target. The value 
of hits, direct and ricochet, are : on the prone 
figure, 5 ; on the kneeling figure, 4. Hits on the 
black paper silhouette only count. When two or 
more targets are used on the same range, they 
are placed in line with an interval of not less 
than 5 yards between centers of groups. 

While this is the regulation skirmish target, 
its form has caused considerable dissatisfaction*. 
Shots striking the ground immediately in front 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 153 

of the target often drive large rocks or lumps 
of dirt through the target, tearing such large 
holes in, it that it cannot be counted and the 
marksman has to repeat his run. Also shots 
striking the iron frame are apt to tear the tar- 
get badly. The conditions with this target are 
liable to be different on different ranges. On 
one range the targets may be set on hard gravel 
and they will be seen with great distinctness, and 
a shot striking two or three feet in front of the 
target will be almost sure to ricochet through ; 
while on another range the targets may be placed 
on a soft, grassy glacis, where they are almost 
invisible and ricochets are impossible. 

Many different targets have been devised to 
overcome these objections. At the last National 
Match (1908.) the skirmish target consisted of 
the kneeling and prone figures printed on a 
white target 6 feet square, and this was dis- 
played from the butt exactly as the regular mid- 
range target is displayed. The following in- 
structions have been written with a view to their 
being adaptable to any form of target. 

For the procedure in skirmish fire, one should 
consult Paragraph 141, Small-Arms Firing Reg- 
ulations 1906. 

Elevation and zero are everything in skirmish- 
ing. They must be known exactly, to an inch ii 



154 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

possible, at each range. Start work on the 
skirmish figures pasted on a 6 by 6 foot white 
target, and have every shot marked with a spot- 
ter, keeping accurate record in your score-book. 
Start in at 200 yards and work back to 600 
yards. Now, using the same elevations, start at 
600 yards and work down to 200 yards, but at 
each range fire the prescribed number of shots 
within the time limit and see if they fall in the 
same place as in slow fire. If they do eot, cor- 
rect the elevation and zero to agree with your 
rapid-fire error. Lastly, have the regular skirm- 
ish target put up and make a regular run, ex- 
cept that between ranges have a marker come 
out from the pit and mark each bullet-hole with 
the number of that range in red pencil. This 
will give you complete and final data. 

The best manner of aiming is to have the figure 
appear as though it were kneeling or lying on top 
of the frofit sight. At any rate, the aim should 
be taken at exactly the same spot at each ranee. 
At each range fire on the kneeling or prone fig- 
ure just as you would in a regular run,. On 
ranges where dust can be seen behind the fig- 
ures, and the prone figure stands out distinctly 
against a light background, many men will fiic 
all their shots at this figure. 

Under these conditions at Fort Sheridan, dur- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 155 

ing the Army competitions in 1905, six possibles, 
scoring 100, were made. Where, however, the 
figures are up in the air and against the sky, as 
at Camp Perry, many find that they make their 
best average shooting at the kneeHng figure at 
600, 500, 400, and 350 yards, and at the prone 
figure at 300 and 200 yards. 

On ranges where one can obtain ricochets 
with fair certainty, the elevations should be so 
adjusted as to have the center of the group fail 
at the mark R, figure 20. Where, however, di- 
rect hits only will score, the shots should fall 
higher than this at the point marked D. In fir- 
ing on the kneeling figure at 600 yards, when 
there i_s no chance for ricochets, the shots should 
fail at the point 6. Elevations so adjusted have 
been found to give the greatest certainty of hits. 
In all your firing try to prevent your shots from 
going under the arm of the kneeling figure or 
over the back of the orone figure, for most of 
the misses occur in these locations. 

Let me strongly advise you in all finding of 
elevations and in practice runs to use the 
Stevens-Pope micrometer sight elevator, which 
can be left on the rifle while firing. The mi- 
crometer is as great a factor toward high scores 
in skirmish as it is in slow fire. The British 
vernier will not answer for this purpose. I 



156 Siiggestio7is to Military Riflemen. 

thoroughly believe in the use of the peep sight 
at every range, and all data here given has been 
worked out for that sight. 

When using the micrometer it will be found 
that a certain lowering of elevation is necessary 
between each range. This change seems to be 
constant with everyone, and does not dififer with 
inaividuals. Presuming that one is firing at the 
prone figure entirely, this will be found to be as 
follows : 
From 600 to 500 yards lower 4.3 minutes. 

" 500 "400 " " 4- 

" 400 "350 " " 2. 

" 350 " 300 " " 1.7 " 

" 300 "200 " " 3. 

This table we will call the regular skirmish 
ratio. It was determined with ammunition, 
manufactured at the Frankford Arsenal, with 
the 150-grain sharp-pointed bullet and giving an 
instrumental velocity, measured at 78 feet from 
the muzzle, of about 2640 feet. 

Where one fires at the kneeling figure at the 
longer ranges a small change should be made, 
for one wants his shots to strike higher on the 
kneeling than on the prone figure. Thus if we 
shoot at the kneeling figure at 600, 500, and 400' 
yards, and at the prone at the shorter ranges, 
instead of having 2 minutes difference between 



Sitggestimis to Military Riflemen. 157 





f\<^vre 3iO. 



158 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

400 and 350 yards, we make the difference 3 
minutes, setting the elevations for the kneeUng 
figure I minute higher. The altered ratio then 
becomes 4.3, 4, 3, 1.7, 3. 

It is extremely difficult in the hurry and ex- 
citement of a skirmish run to adjust the sight 
to correct elevation necessary to have the bullets 
fall with certainty on the exact spot desired. It 
can hardly be done with the hands unless, hap- 
pily, the correct elevations coincide with some 
distinct line or mark on the sight-leaf. 

The regulations do not allow a permanently 
affixed micrometer in record practice or in com- 
petitions. That is, the micrometer must not be 
attached to the rifle when the latter is fired. 
Therefore it is practically impossible to use the 
micrometer in skirmishing, except in practice 
runs, as it takes too much time to put it on the 
sight and take it off. 

After one has correctlv found his elevatiors 
with the micrometer, I would recommend his 
making a skirmish sight-adjuster for those ele- 
vations. This consists simply in a piece of sheet 
brass made in the form illustrated in Figure 21. 
It is made by the rifleman himself with the aid 
of a small vise and a flat file. The making takes 
about fifteen minutes. Ihe height of each step 
is the distance from the wind-gauge scale to the 



Sitggestions to Militarx Riflemen. 159 

under side of the sighting-bar when the sight i^ 
correctly adjusted for the range. The firinig 
should be done with great care, so that the ad- 
juster will exactly set the sights at the elevatiors 
as determined by firing and recorded by the 
micrometer. 

To use the adjuster the under side is placed •: 
contact with the wind-gauge scale, the brass 
plate being on a line with the two zeros on the 
scale. The sighting-bar is then, lowered on to 
the step, being careful to allow the next higher 
step above the range desired to pass to the 
left of the projection containing- the battle- 
sight. The sighting-bar is pressed down hard 
on the adjuster, clamped fast,, and the adjuster 
removed. With five minutes' practice this can 
be done instanteously, and quite a little faster 
than setting by hand in the regular way, as there 
are no fine adjustments to be made by the eye. 
Some riflemen will argue that this adjuster 
does not allow of those changes in elevation 
called for by weather conditions. It is, howeve*, 
so simple that three can be made ; one to ad- 
just to I minute over normal elevation at all 
ranges, and one to i minute below. Practical- 
ly, however, .in, skirmish firing, no alteration 
from the normal elevations should be made, ex- 
cept at 600 yards. Head or rear winds at short- 



160 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



FB 



21 



i S/ [ 



Soo 



350 3oo Joo 



1::=^ 



Figure 21. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 161 

er ranges than 600 yards make no appreciable 
difference in elevation. When one gets well into 
a skirmish run, the barrel becomes very hot, and 
the conditions of the gun are practically identical 
for every run. 

Experience has proved conclusively that it i^ 
not safe to depart from the normal elevations at 
ranges below 600 yards. Thus this adjuster, 
constructed for the normal elevations, can be 
absolutely relied upon. Of course, there will be 
considerable difference in the short-range eleva- 
tions between winter and summer, on account 
of the great difference' in temperature. Also, 
the short-range elevations will differ in differe -t 
localities according to the barometric -pressure. 

Having made the adjuster, we are now ready 
for a regular skirmish run. Wipe your barrel 
free from oil, smoke the sights, and oil the bolt. 
Roll up the left sleeve of your undershirt so 
as to make a hump just below where the sling 
is to come on the arm. Put on your cartridge- 
belt and, having graphited your bullets, arrange 
the clips in the pockets of the belt where they 
can be easily gotten at with the right hand. B: 
sure you have your micrometer, skirmish adjust- 
er, field-glasses, score-book, and pencil with you ; 
then go to the range. Make your calculations 
as to elevation and windage for the 600-yard 



162 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

range and set your sights with the micrometer. 
Also make your windage calculations for all the 
other ranges. Then write the data for elevation 
in yards, and for windage at each range on a 
small piece of paper about 2 inches square and 
pin this to the left cuff of your blouse or shiit 
where it will be in plain view when you assume 
the firing position. This paper should have re- 
corded on it, for instance, the following: 

Skirmish Data. 

Yards. Elev. W. G. 

500 500 I 3-5 

400 415 I 1-5 

350 360 I 

300 300 4-5 

200 250 ^ 

You will then have this paper to refer to in 
setting your sights at each range and will not 
have to trust to memorv, which is very unsafe 
in the hurry of a skirmish run. The reason for 
putting on it the elevation in yards is that you 
may accidentally lose your skirmish adjuster in 
the grass and be unable to recover it in time. 

For instance, if you estimate your windage at 
600 yards to be 2 points, then follow on the 600- 
yard line to the 2-point colurnn and read down, 
and you will have the correct windage for all 
the other ranges. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 163 

Then adjust the sUng carefully to the left arm 
above the roll of the undershirt sleeve, and fasten 
it there by slipping down one of the keepers of 
the sling. The sling is to be kept adjusted dur- 
ing the entire run and never removed from the 
arm. 

Now, if you have time, go to the 600-yard fir- 
ing-point, lie down, sight on your target, note 
where your elbows come on the ground, and 
make small holes for them. This gives greater 
steadiness. Then return in rear of the line. At 
the command of the officer in charge of the 
skirmishers, load, filling the magazine with a full 
clip, and closing the bolt thus loading a cartridge 
into the ^chamber. Have the skirmish adjuster 
in the right hand. At the command, move for- 
ward promptly, and, arriving at the firing-point, 
lie down, elbows in the holes previously made, 
place the adjuster on the ground to the right 
of the piece and convenient to the right hand, 
and, holding the piece in the position of load, 
await the command for firing. At the command 
or trumpet call (last note) ''Commence Firing!" 
unlock the piece, aim carefully, and try to get 
the best pull possible for the first shot. Having 
fired the first shot, immediately eject the fir^^d 
shell and load the second cartridge. Fire the 
second shot as soon as you are sure you can get 



164 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

a good pull. Eject this shell instantly, load, and 
lock the piece. Then let your hand fly to the 
skirmish-adjuster on the ground, and then to 
the rear sight. Set the rear sight for the 500- 
yard elevation with the adjuster, then change 
the wind-gauge to agree with the memoranduiii 
you have pinned to your left cuff. Retain the 
skirmish elevator in the right hand. Glance at 
the flags to see if there has been a change in the 
wind, and await the signal to rise and move 
forward. In proceeding from one range to the 
next, carry the rifle under the left arm, muzzle 
to the front, and sling still adjusted. If neces- 
sary, tighten the sling on the arm as you mo ^e 
forward. 

These movements are repeated at each range, 
firing, of course, the correct number of cart- 
ridges. Examine each firing-point with vour eye 
as you approach it, and choose a level place to 
lie down, where no tufts of grass will interfere 
with your vision of the target. As you lie down, 
try to find a hole or depression in the sod for 
your right elbow to rest in. It is very import- 
ant that the right elbow should not even feel as 
though it might possibly slip. An elbow badly 
placed makes the position very unsteady. In 
some soils the heel can be dug into the ground 
before lying down, thus making a hole. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 165 

On approaching the 400-yard firing-point, take 
a cHp of cartridges from the belt and lay it, with 
the skirmish adjuster near the right hand-, but 
where it will not get dirty or wet. When you 
come to 400 yards, you will have but one cart- 
ridge in your rifle. Having, fired that, immedi- 
ately and quickly load the clip which is lying 
conveniently to hand, and fire the other two 
shots. Practice this quick loading with clips of 
dummy cartridges — it will pay. Similarly, on 
approaching the 350-' and 300-yard firing-points, 
you should take a clip from the belt and place 
'it on the ground, as you will have to load it im- 
mediately after firing the last shot at these 
ranges. 

In rapid fire at 300 and 200 yards be especial- 
ly sure about getting a hole for that right elbow, 
and don't lift the elbows from the ground in 
working the bolt. As you grasp and pull back 
the bolt with the right hand, lower and move the 
left hand to the right without changing its grasp 
on the rifle. This assists the right hand in open- 
ing the bolt without removing the elbow from 
the ground. As you close the bolt, bring th.^ 
left hand back to the firing position and the 
sights on the target. After a little practice in 
this, one can fire very accurately and very fast. 
By not changing the grip of the left hand o.i 



166 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

the piece, or letting the elbows leave the ground, 
we hasten the return of the rifle accurately to the 
target. 

Indeed, experience seems to show that after 
an amount of this practice one can get to that 
state where he sights for the first shot only, and 
pumps the succeeding shots in as fast as possible, 
with a surety that they will all be hits. Per- 
haps the greatest factor in getting a good skirm- 
ish average is to surely p'et in every shot at 300 
and 200 yards on the prone. One is thus sure 
of 50 points and everything he gets back of 300 
yards. 

Hits can surely be made at 300 and 200 yards 
in slow fire, and in order to assure them in the 
rapid fire, it helps greatly if one can work his 
bolt like lightning and have his sights come 
right back on the target, so that he has a little 
time to get a perfect sight and a good pull-off. 

All these movements are of the greatest im- 
portance, SO' do not slur any of them. It is 
necessary to get them down sO' fine that they are 
done automatically and with great speed and 
precision. You must have all the time possible 
for aiming, pulling, setting the sights, and watch- 
ing conditions, and your mind must be burdened 
with nothing else. You cannot expect to skirm- 
ish well until you have come to do everything 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 167 

else without thinking and with great speed and 
accuracy. Lay off a skirmish range anywhere— 
it does not matter if the distances are not exact 
— and make a number of runs with dummy car- 
tridges, until you know the whole procedure by 
heart. 

On ranges' where the skirmish figures are 
placed on or in front of a butt, the bullets will 
often throw up puffs, of dust, giving an excel- 
lent indication as to the correctness of eleva- 
tion and windage. If on such a range the first 
shot is seen to strike, say, 6 inches low and 6 
inches to the left of the figure, then for the re- 
maining shots at that range the piece should be 
held 6 inches higher and 6 inches to the right 
of the figure. The elevation and windage for 
the other ranges can be calculated anew on this 
data while one is proceeding from one range to 
another. Be sure, in your observations, to take 
into consideration the effect of the wind in dis- 
placing the puff of dust. 

In order to get the greatest amount of profit 
from your practice, you should keep a score- 
sheet of every run, as shown in Chapter XL 

Here are a few things you would do well to 
remember : 

Make all your calculations for 6oo vards, and 
your windage calculations for all other ranges 



168 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

in plenty of time before the run, so you will not 
be hurried at the last moment. 

Keep your eyes open for any change in the 
wind during a run. 

Be sure to get a good pull for every shot. 

Immediately after the last shot at each range, 
set the sights foT the next range. • 

Be sure to get a steady position at each halt. 
This is best insured by smooth, level ground, 
with a slight hole for the right elbow. 
The 40-Shot Competition Run. 

This run is prescribed for competitions in the 
Regular Army. Forty rounds of ammunition are 
issued to each competitor. The time limit re- 
mains the same as in the regular run. Five 
rounds must be fired at each halt, making it com- 
pulsory to fire at least 30 rounds. The other 10 
rounds may be fired where desired. All loading 
must be with, a full clip of five cartridges. 

It will be seen that this run calls for extreme- 
ly rapid work, and to succeed at it, one should 
do hours of practice with dummy cartridges at 
loading and firing quickly. No absolute rule can 
be prescribed as to where one should fire the 
extra cartridges or whether he should fire all 
of them. Of course, one should fire no more 
cartridges than he can be sure to get good aim 
and pulls for. The aim will necessarily be slow- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 169 

er at the longer ranges than it will at the shorter. 
At t;oo yards one can hardly fire his five shots, 
load, and fire any more; but at 400 yards, it he 
works fast, he can perhaps fire five, load a clip, 
and fire one more in the 30 seconds. Then at 
350 he can fire the four shots in the rifle, load, 
and fire three more ; and at 300 yards he can fire 
the two shots in, the rifle, load, and fire five more. 
It is difficult to fire more -than five shots in the 
time limit of 20 seconds at 200 yards, but per- 
haps after firing five shots then, one may find 
tim^e to load the rifle and fire another shot or so, 
making a total of 36 or 37 shots for the run. 
Many good shots distribute their cartridges in 
this manner, claiming it is about all they can 
pull well. Others will start firing the extra shots 
at 600 yards and will get in the whole 40 shot^ 
on the run. I think all, however, agree that it 
is unwise to so distribute the cartridges as to 
make it necessary to load a clip during the firing 
at 200 yards. If a man is firing 40 shots, he ar- 
ranges it so that he comes to the 200-yard firing- 
point with his last five shots in his rifle. 

During the latter part of a run, be sure not to 
touch your hands to the fixed base of the rear 
sight, as it will have become hot enough to burn 
them. In other respects the instructions given 
for the regular run will apply to this one also. 



170 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Sub-Skirmish. 

Many men are- unable to obtain any skirmish 
practice on account of the lack of a safe and 
suitable range. It is a poor locality, however, 
where a 200-yard range or a level spot of that 
length is not available. On such ground excel- 
lent skirmish practice can, be had, by laying out 
a range the same as the regular skirmish range 
in every respect, except reduced to one-third the 
size, and then using a reduced load. A diagram 
of such a range is given in Figure 22. 

In order to get the full length of run between 
ranges, plant stakes a little distance to the right 
or left of the range and half-way between the 
firing-points. Have them exactly 50 vards from 
the firing-points which they are between, except 
those between 400 and 350 yards, and between 
350 and 300 yards, which should be only 25 
yards. The marksman then in going from 600 
to 500 yards (represented ranges) proceeds in 
quick time to the stake A, rounds it, and pro- 
ceeds in double time to the 500-yard firing-point. 
The targets are made just one-third the size of 
the regular targets. They can be conveniently 
cut from heavy card-board or linoleum to give 
them the requisite stiffness without the iron 
frame, and then pasted over with black paper. 
In the absence of a better bullet-stop, a large 



sutr 



i^V< 



•♦-OO Yd 



'Jj. 



r p. 



Figure 22. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

packing"-box, preferably one for a piano, filled 
with sand and placed a foot behind the targets, 
will answer. 

The service ammunition is both undesirable 
and unsafe for this use. Undesirable because 
the trajectory is so flat that no adjustment of 
sights " is necessary during the run, which is a 
very desirable part of the practice; also because 
the load is expensive and causes much wear to 
to the barrel. It is unsafe, because these sub- 
ranges from their very nature are extemporized 
without all safety precautions being taken in 
their location, and are usually in settled com- 
munities. Therefore a reduced load is usually 
used, and for his purpose 1 would recommend 
the load prescribed for Ideal Bullet No. 30S280 
in Chapter XVII. Of course, regular skirmish 
elevations will have tO' be found for this load. 
The sub-skirmish is an excellent makeshift for 
the National Guardsmen and civilians who do not 
have a regular range available. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Long Range. 

"There are many good short-range men, who 
have simply not got the necessary brains nor 
education for first - rate long - range work ; and 
there are very few officers capable of teaching it 
well, or who ever had half a chance to learn it." 

— Tippins, in Modern RiUe-Shooting. 

The above quotation, from one of the greatest 
English experts, applies with equal force to our 
own service. It is not so much that long-range 
firing differs from short- or mid-range work, as 
that the laws which apply to short- and mid- 
range apply with equal or greater force to long 
range, and while one or two factors may be dis- 
regarded and still not sDoil a mid-range score, 
yet the overlooking of a single thing will play 
havoc at looo yards. It will be seen that to ap- 
ply all the principles and rules so far laid down 
in this work requires a thorough knowledge of 
them, a quick and active brain, good eyesip^ht, 
and a good body; and also, it might be said, a 

—173— 



174 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

good education. These are, then, the essential 
quahties of a good long-range shot. Eliminate 
any one of these, and we will in all probability 
eliminate also the good scores. 

Long ranges are classified as those between 
600 and 1000 yards. Practically, however, there 
is little difference between the care necessary to 
make a creditable score at 600 yards and that 
necessary at 800 yards. The real difference 
comes when one retires to 1000 yards ; therefore 
the following remarks will pertain more partic- 
ularly to that range. 

The rifle is the first consideration. The muz- 
zle of the bore must be perfect to give the neces- 
sary accuracy. The bore must be smooth and 
free from rough places and rust, which would 
make it foul quickly with cupro-nickel. The bar- 
rel must be kept in perfect condition with the 
metal fouling solution, as directed in Chapter 11. 

The rifleman must do his own part perfectlv. 
His hold must be steady and exactly the same 
at each shot. The same amount of tension 
should be placed on the gun-sling for each shot, 
and the elbows should lie in the same holes. 
The aim should be as correct as the eyes can 
see to make it. Canting or leaning of the sights 
must be carefully guarded against, as a hardly 
visible cant will carry one from the bull's-eye 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 175 

into the ^''two space" on the target. And lastly, 
and most important, the pull must be perfect 
for every shot. The least little unsteadiness or 
jerk in the trigger-pull will cause a miss almost 
every time. 

Every refinement must be used. The mi- 
crometer, telescope, and score-book are especial- 
ly necessary. One may get an occasional good 
score without these aids, but his average work 
will be very poor indeed. By referring to the 
table on page — , it will be seen that when us- 
ing service ammunition and not using the mi- 
crometer the radius of the shot group will be 
about 35.17 inches. Of course, all the shots wiil 
not fly as wild as this, but every little while one 
will, and this one often is a miss, or else it 
causes one to think his sighting is wrong and 
plays the mischief with the score generally. In- 
dividuals and organizations shooting at long 
range without the micrometer will find that 
scores of 25 to 30 out of a possible 50 is about the 
best they are able to average. If, however, the 
micrometer is used, we eliminate the error in 
sight-adjustment and the radius of the shot 
group is reduced to about 18.9 inches. The 
average scores of good shots at 1000 yards un- 
der these conditions will be found to run froia 



176 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

about 35 to 42 out of a possible 50. Service am- 
munition made in lots of millions of rounds can- 
not, of course, have the special attention given 
to it during manufacture which makes special 
match ammunition so accurate. Service ammu- 
nition gives a mean vertical deviation at 1000 
yards of about 8.9 inches, and the special match 
ammunition used by the American Bisley Team 
in 1908 gave a deviation, of only 5.29 inches. 
This difference is enough to cause the best shots 
of the country using the latter ammunition to 
average 47 to 48 out of a possible 50 at 1000 
yards, and with this ammunition perfect scores of 
50 at 1000 yards have become very common. 
Therefore, at lon^ range, to get good results, you 
must use a micrometer and the most perfect am- 
munition you can obtain. 

A good telescope or powerful field-glass is 
also essential. Small changes in mirage drift 
must be watched for, quickly determined, and al- 
lowance made for them. This is especially nec- 
essary in fish-tail* winds. 

*Fis'h-tail winds are those coming from the gen- 
eral direction of 6 or 12 o'clock, but which are con- 
stantlj" changing from 5 to 7 o'clock, or from 11 to 1 
o'clock. The flag flufttens from one side to the other 
continnously, and it is only through the glass that 
one can gain a true estimate. 



' Suggestions to Military Riflemen. VII 

The score-book is very necessary at long 
range, in order that one may keep accurate rec- 
ords of elevations and weather conditions. These 
change so often, and the change amounts to so 
much at long range, that any attempt to keep 
these in the head soon results in confusion and 
drives everyone to the score-book. 

You must have a thermometer, barometer, and 
hygrometer, and must use them. It is not neces- 
sary to bring them to the firing-point, but they 
should be read shortly before firing. A man 
may use an elevation of 1025 yards at the 1000- 
yard range one day, and the next day his cor- 
rect elevation may be only 900 yards. If he ha> 
no instruments and does not know how to use 
them, it may take him from five to fifteen shots 
"before he gets a hit on the target. Many men's 
qualifications as sharpshooters and expert rifle- 
men are ruined from this cause. 

A score previously fired at 800 yards does not 
always give a true indication of what the ele- 
vation will be at 1000 yards. Often one will 
fire and make an excellent score at 800 yards 
with his normal elevation, and on immediately 
going back to 1000 yards he may find that at 
that range he has to use 4 or 5 minutes of ele- 
vation above or below normal. 

It occasionally happens that elevations worked 
cQut Ac.CDxding to all the rules a^e not correct. 



178 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

It is here that the experience of the old and 
seasoned long-range shot comes in.. He seems to 
know by instinct which way to move to get a 
hit. About the best way to become proficient at 
long range is to get such a man for a coach. 

In some localities scores at long range will 
be found to average quite high despite the ab- 
sence of all refinements. This will be found to 
be the case where weather conditions vary very 
little during the shooting season. Thus, in cer- 
tain parts of the Philippine Islands and in Cali- 
fornia, and at certain seasons of the year and 
time of day, the thermometer, barometer, and hy- 
grometer will be found to have almost the same 
readings day after day. Here the inexperienced 
shots are able to do very good work at long 
range. They find the correct elevation, and as 
long as they keep their rifles clean, and use the 
same ammunition, they can stick to that eleva- 
tion during their whole season's practice. On 
the majority of ranges in our country, however, 
during the shooting season, we are liable to have 
changes in temperature of 300 degrees, changes 
in barometer of % of an inch, and changes in 
hygrometer of 40 per cent ; and these may make 
differences in elevation at 1000 yards of 150 
yards, or 10 to 15 minutes. 

''Unaccountables" are, shots which either miss 
the target or else hit it in a quite different spot 



'Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 179 

from what was expected, and their deviation 
from the rest of the shot group cannot be ac- 
counted for. A true "unaccountable" is usually 
due to a faulty cartridge, but one has tO' be a very 
good shot indeed before he can truly blame a bad 
shot on the ammunition. Very often unaccount- 
ably bad shots are more liable to be small errors 
in pull - off, small changes in mirage, wind, or 
light, etc., which have> escaped the rifleman's 
notice. With ammunition giving a large vertical 
deviation "unaccountables'^ are more liable to oc- 
cur than with the more recent accurate loads. 
One may, for instance, aim a little high without 
noticing it, and then pull off a little high, and 
the shot may be one of those striking at the top 
of the shot group, in which case the shot may 
go over the top of the target, and lead one to 
think he has had an "unaccountable" shot when 
such is really not the case. With the recent 
great improvement in ammunition and the al- 
most universal use of the micrometer, the word 
"unaccountable" has almost disant^eared from the 
vocabulary of the really expert shot. 

It is of little use attempting to get accurace 
results at long range when the targets are mark- 
ed with the big, old-fashioned, marking disk. 



180 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

One must know exactly where his shot hits the 
target. The alternative method of marking, 
with shot marks or ''spotters/'* as prescribed in 
the latter part of Paragraph 103, Small-Arms 
Firing Regulations 1906, should be used ex- 
clusively. 

To sum up, the following precautions should 
always be used in long-range firing: 

1. Keep your barrel in perfect condition. 

2. Use a micrometer and the best ammunition 
you can get^ 

3. Read the thermometer, barometer, and hy- 
grometer before starting your score, and figure 
out your elevation. 

4. Watch the Hags and mirage closely before 
each shot. 

^.Remember that a perfect pull-off only zvill 
hit the target. 

* Spotters are small .SO-caliber pegs or nails with 
a round head of card-board or tin. The spotter is in- 
serted in the bullet-hole of the last shot fired and the 
card-board head is seen by the rifleman when the tar- 
get is raised after being marked. Black card-board is 
used to mark shots which hit in the white of the tar- 
get, and w'hiie card-board for the bull's-eyes. The 
card-boiard should be about 6 inches in diameter for 
long range and 3 inches for mid-range. Field-glasses 
are needed to see them. This system of marking is 
used exclusively in the N'ational Matches, and at 
Camp Perry and Sea Girt. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Service Ammunition. 

It is just as necessary to have accurate ammu- 
nition as it is to have an accurate rifle, and a 
knowledge of what constitutes good ammuni- 
tion is needed by every rifleman. In order to un- 
derstand the subject thoroughly, it will be neces- 
sary to glance for a moment at the history of 
modern high-power ammunition development. 
Prior to the year 1900, the cartridge for the 
Krag lifle was loaded with Du Pont and Pey- 
ton smokeless powders, and the bullet had a 
cupro-nickel jacket having one canelure, into 
which the shell was crimped. This ammunition 
was very defective — in fact, it would hardly stay 
on the target at 600 yards ; and as a consequence, 
fine shooting with the Krag up to this time was 
an unknown accomplishment. The bullet was 
badly balanced and in diameter measured a scant 
.307 inch, while the majority of barrels then in 
the hands of riflemen were bored extremely 
larg-e, recording on the micrometer all the way 
from .308 ta .313 inch. The consequence was 
that gas-cutting occurred — that is to say, the ex- 

— 181— 



182 Suggestions to Militdry RiHemen. 

tremely hot gases rushed past between the bul- 
let and the barrel and, cutting like a diamond- 
pointed tool, deformed both bullet and barrel and 
destroyed accuracy. The two mentioned kinds 
of powder, the only kinds produced at that time, 
were also deficient, giving a great amount of 
residue and many unburnt grains of powder. 
This fouling was flattened down into the grooves 
of the barrel by the passage of the succeeding 
bullets and caused variations in the velocity with 
the consequent increase in the vertical dispersion 
of shots. 

Up to this time (1900) gas-cutting was almost 
an unknown factor in rifle ballistics. It did 
not figure in the ammunition for the .45-caliber 
Springfield rifle, because with black powder and 
lead bullets the explosion of the powder struck 
the bullet a severe blow, upsetting or expanding 
it immediately to completely fill the barrel to the 
bottom of the grooves. With smokeless powder 
and jacketed bullets there is scarcely any upset, 
and if the bullet in its original diameter does not 
fit the barrel completely to the bottom of the 
grooves, gas-cutting is sure to occur. 

In the latter part of 1900 the Frankford 
Arsenal started the issue of ammunition load- 
ed with Laflin & Rand W. A. powder and the 
"3-groove lubricated" bullet. This ammunition 



Suggestions to Military Riilemen. 183 

was so much better than the old that target prac- 
tice started to improve immediately. The W. A. 
powder was found to be practically perfect, and 
to this day continues to be the standard and best 
powder for our military rifles. The "3-groove 
lubricated" bullet was very much better balanced 
than the old bullet having three canelures which 
contained lubricant. The bullet, however, still 
measured .307 inch and gas-cutting continued to 
occur. This ammunition behaved very well up 
to 900 yards, but beyond that distance many of 
the bullets lost their gyrostatic stability and 
tumbled or key-holed, making the ammunition 
very imsatisfactory for 1000-yard work. The 
lubricant in the grooves of this bullet has since 
proved to be unnecessary. There exists a need 
for lubrication of high-power ammunition, but 
no lubricant has been found up to the present 
time which will fulfill the requirements. Ow- 
ing to the high temperatures developed by the 
smokeless powder, the ordinary lubricant under- 
goes chemical disorganization — is split up into 
its constituent elements, carbon and hydrogen. 
The hydrogen, being a gas, escapes, leaving the 
carbon behind ; and the carbon, far from being a 
lubricant, only adds to the fouling of the gun. 
In the summer of 1902, on the eve of an inter- 
national rifle match, the Union Metallic Cart- 



184 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

ridge Company, aided by their expert, Mr. W. 
M. Thomas, produced the first really satisfactory 
bullet that had appeared. This is known as the 
"Thomas" bullet. It is perfectly smooth, with no 
canelures, and, owing to the fact that the great 
majority of barrels measured over .308 inch, the 
new bullet was given a diameter of .3085 inch 
and the base was made perfectly straight and 
square. This brings us to the two great desid- 
eratums of modern rifle bullets. The bullei 
should have a diameter a trifle greater than the 
diameter of the bore of the barrel to prevent gas- 
cutting and to prolong the life of the barrel. The 
base of the bullet should be perfectly straight 
and square, and the bullet should maintain its 
maximum diameter right down to the base. If 
the bullet is made in this manner, the instant 
that the base of the bullet leaves the muzzle of 
the barrel the gas will escape equally all around 
and perfect deHvery will occur. This is a great 
element in the accuracy of a bullet. If the base 
IS in the least rounded, the gas is very apt to es- 
cape unequally at the instant of departure, and 
the gas first escaping will strike the base and 
side of the bullet, tipping it and giving it an un- 
steady flight. 

Shortly after the appearance of the Thomas 
bullet, the Frankford Arsenal started to produce 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 185 

its new smooth bullet, which was very much the 
same, except that it measured only .308 inch at 
its largest diameter, which was about % of an 
inch above the base. After that the Winchester 
Repeating Arms Company produced its Hudson- 
Winchester bullet and the Peters Cartridge Com- 
pany its special bullet, so that to-day all the am- 
munition manufactured in this country for our 
military rifles is excellent and performs in a sat- 
isfactory manner. 

When the Government first started to produce 
ammunition for the Model 1903 rifle, they used 
the new smooth bullet exactly as used in the 
Krag cartridge. With this bullet it was found 
that the increase of 300 feet per second in the 
velocity caused the jackets of about two bul- 
lets in every 100 to split, giving unaccountable 
misses. Therefore, in the spring of 1905, the 
jackets of the bullets were increased in thick- 
ness from .016 inch to .020 inch and the max- 
imum diameter of the bullet increased from .30S 
to .3085 inch. 

In the mean time the German Government had 
been making experiments with and had adopted 
a bullet having a very sharp, long point and 
weighing only 154 grains. This bullet was 
known as the Spitzer, and was calculated to be 
influenced or retarded by the resistance of the 
air very much less than the old form of bullet. 



186 Suggestions to Military RiHemen. 

The bullet was given the, then, extreme velocity 
of 2700 feet per second, and the trajectory was 
greatly flattened at all ranges, giving a danger 
space for infantry against infantry of 700 yards. 

The tactical advantages of this bullet were 
such that our Ordnance Department took the 
matter up at once. Contrary to expectations, it 
was found that the new bullet was very accurate, 
and moreover that it was deflected by the wind 
only about half as much as a bullet of the old 
form of the same weight. Our old and reliable 
W. A. powder was found, however, to erode the 
barrel so much with these large charges as to 
be out of the question. The E. I. Du Pont de 
Nemours Powder Company, however, quickly 
developed two very satisfactory powders, the 
Pyrocellulose and the Du Pont Military Powder, 
the latter being known in the service as N. G. 
S. Q. powder. 

The adaptation of this bullet to the Model 
1903 rifle necessitated making the neck of the 
shell shorter and rechambering the rifle. These 
changes were made to all arms and the new 
rifles and ammunition were issued to both the 
Regular Army and National Guard during the 
winter of 1907- 1908. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 187 

The more important data for this new car- 
tridge, which is at present the standard ammuni- 
tion for the Model 1903 rifle, are as follows : 
Weight of bullet, 150 grains. 
Diameter of bullet at base, .3085 inch max. 

— .3081 inch min. 
Length of bullet, 1.095 i^^h max. — 1.065 

inch min. 
Muzzle velocity, 2700 feet per second. 
Instrumental velocity at 78 feet, 2640 feet 

oer second. 
Chamber pressure, 50,000 pounds. 
These cartridges are packed in clips of five 
each. Sixty cartridges, in twenty clips, are 
packed in a bandoleer of olive drab cloth, contain- 
ing six pockets, each holding two clirs. Twelve 
hundred cartridges, in, twenty bandoleers, are 
packed in a sealed zinc case enclosed in a 
wooden box 34.5 inches by 9.5 inches by 8.27 
inches, which weighs when filled about 99 
pounds. The date of loading of the contained 
cartridges is stamped on each end of the wooden 
box. 

There has been considerable discussion as to 
which of the two powders used in this cartridge 
are the best. The pyrocellulose powder gives 
much less erosion than the Du Pont 1908 Mili- 
tary, but it has been claiiried that the residue of 



188 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

pyrocellulose is very sticky, and that it accum- 
ulates in the barrel, causing the shots to drop 
lower and lower on the target, until finally a 
shot comes along which seems to take out with 
it much of the fouling and the following shot 
goes much higher. This fault, however, is not 
very well established, and the Ordnance Depart- 
ment have been unable to discover it. The shoot- 
ing qualities of pyrocellulose are greatly affected 
by the varying degrees of moisture in the air 
at the time of loading, so that cartridges loaded 
on one day are apt to shoot very differently from 
those loaded on another day. In shooting am- 
munition loaded with this powder, it is well to 
endeavor to get sufficient of one date of loading 
to carry one through the whole season's shooting. 

It is claimed for the Du Pont 1908 MiHtary 
Powder that it is free from these defects, but it 
undoubtedly erodes the bore more than does the 
pyrocellulose. As a matter of fact, there are 
very few men indeed in the country who can 
shoot well enough to discover any difference be- 
tween the two. 

Pyrocellulose powder is a variety of nitrocell- 
ulose colloided or gelatinized by means of ether 
and alcohol, which afterward evaporate ; the' 
colloid being formed into granules of the proper 
dimension for the gun in which it is to be shot. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 189 

It has been used for several years in large guns 
in our Navy. Its great advantage is due to the 
low^ temperature of its combustion. Pyrocellu- 
lose powder is more expensive to manufacture 
than the Du Pont 1908 Military Powder, which 
is practically the old W. A. formula modified so 
as to lower the temperature of combustion. 
With the latter powder the accurate life of a 
barrel measuring .308 inches for accurate long- 
range work is a little over 4500 rounds, provid- 
ed it is properly cared for. With pyrocellulose 
the life is about one-third longer than this. The 
normal charge of pyrocellulose powder weighs 
from 48 to 50 grains. 

In June, 1908, the National Rifle Association 
conducted a series of ammunition tests to deter- 
mine the best ammunition for use by the Amer- 
ican team in the International Olympic Rifle 
Matches in^ England in July of that year. These 
tests proved conclusively that the ammunition 
manufactured by the United States Cartridge 
Company was the best at that time. The bullet 
for this cartridge had the same point as the 
Government 150-grain bullet, but it was length- 
ened so as to weigh 180 grains. Enough Du 
Pont 1908 Military Powder was used to make 
the cartridge shoot with the same sight eleva- 
tions as the Government standard ammunition. 



lyO Suggestions to Military Rifl,emen. 

In the tests this ammunition showed a mean 
vertical deviation of all record shots as follows : 



Range 



200 yards 

600 yards 

1000 yards 



Slow fire 17 shots each. 



.74 inches 1.21 inches 

2.81 inches ■ 

5.63 inches 5.17 inches 5.06 ins. 

Rapid fire 10 shots each. 



200 yards | .97 inches 1.05 inches 

Making a grand aggregate mean vertical devia- 
tion of all record shots fired of 2.83 inches. 

This ammunition should really not be classi- 
fied as Service Ammunition, but rather as Spe- 
cial Match Ammunition ; as, although it fulfills 
all the requirements of a good service ammuni- 
tion, yet in time of war the rush of manufacture 
would make the little precautions taken in its 
manufacture impossible, and its accuracy would 
not be maintained so high. 

One of the principal factors in the accuracy of 
a cartridge is the uniformity of the powder. It 
was found that a difference of i grain in th^ 
weight of powder in the Krag cartridge would 
make a difference in point of impact at 1000 
yards of about 20 inches. It is probable that with 
the present cartridge the difference would be 
much less than this, but it would still be a big 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 191 

factor in the vertical deviation of the ammuni- 
tion. Our modern powders cannot be measured 
with great accuracy, for the grains are of such 
shape that they pile up differently in the meas- 
ure, sometimes forming small voids in the mass. 
The only way to get absolute uniformity in the 
powder charge it to weigh each charge separate- 
ly, and the impression seems to exist among rifle- 
men that the private ammunition companies re- 
sort to this in preparing ammunition for im^- 
portant competitions and for certain classes of 
customers. 

In considering the improvements in bullets 
and powder we must not forget the primers. 
Formerly the primers were of the mercurial va- 
riety, but it was found that the mercury com- 
bined with the zinc in the shell metal, causing 
amalgamation and making the fired shells so 
brittle that they could not be reloaded. Since 
1900 all Government ammunition has been load- 
ed with a non-mercurial primer, known as the 
H 48, and the shells no longer become brittle 
and can be reloaded many times. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Mid- and Short-Rangk Ammunition. 

Service ammunition is very expensive and it 
quickly wears out the barrel of the rifle. More- 
over it is unsafe to use it, except on a range espe- 
cially designed or located for its use. There 
must be a large hill or mountain, large lake or 
ocean in rear of the range for a bullet-stop, for 
the maximum range is 5465 yards. These feat- 
ures often make it desirable to use another kind 
of ammunition. 

Mid-range ammunition may be defined as am- 
munition accurate to 600 yards, which has less 
velocity and erosion, and which costs less to- pro- 
duce or reload, than service ammunition. 

Short-ran,ge ammunition is accurate at 200 
yards, less powerful, and cheaper than mid- 
range ammunition, and phould cause no barrel 
erosion at all. Under this head may also be in- 
cluded gallery ammunition, which is accurate at 
ranges varying from 25 yards to 200 yards, ac- 
cording to the requirements. 

These classes of ammunition are not on the 
market. They are loaded by individuals, clubs, 
and organizations of the National Guard, accord- 
—193— 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 193 

ing to their requirements and ideas. In order to 
understand correctly what is to follow, one should 
obtain a copy of the Ideal Handbook from 
the Ideal Manufacturing Company, New Haven, 
Conn. It will be sent on request if four cents 
in stamps is enclosed. The little work is the 
authority in America on, reloading ammunition, 
and is also partly the catalogue of the Ideal 
Manufacturing Company, who make reloading 
tools. 

The following general rules apply in reload- 
ing ammunition : 

Only shells manufactured at the Frankford 
Arsenal should be used, and preferably those 
that have been once fired in the rifle the reload- 
ed ammunition is to be used in. If shells are to 
be kept loaded only a month or two, they need 
not be cleaned inside ; otherwise they should be 
cleaned with acid, according to the formula given 
in the Appendix. 

In priming shells, use the Government H 48 
primer, Union Metallic Cartridge Company No. 
9, or the United States Cartridge Company No. 
2^. These are non-mercuric and do not injure 
the shells. 

In measuring powder, use the Ideal Universal 
Powder Measures and set the scale according to 
tile tables in the Ideal Handbook. There is lit- 



194 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

tie advantage gained in weighing the powder 
charges unless the cartridges are intended for 
long-range work, in which case it is a necessity. 
Remember, smokeless powders do not weigh the 
same as black; also that different kinds differ 
in weight. The charges given here should not 
be exceeded, as a larger charge will either be 
dangerous or inaccurate. 

If lead alloy bullets are used, they should have 
a diameter of .311 inch. Smaller bullets than 
this will be inaccurate. Moulding bullets is not 
recommended for the average man, as it takes 
considerable skill to produce a perfect bullet, 
and it is very little cheaper than buying them^ 
already moulded, lubricated, and sized from the 
Ideal Manufacturing Company. 

Before starting to load the shells, their muz- 
zles must be resized in a muzzle resizer and then 
expanded in a shell-expanding chamber, to just 
the size for the bullet intended to be used. Bul- 
lets should be tight enough in the shell after 
seating to prevent their receding on the pow- 
der with ordinary pressure. Crimping, however, 
destroys accuracy. 

Ordinary alloy bullets cannot be used at velo- 
cities over about 1450 feet, as the large powder 
charge for high velocities generates so much 
heat that the base of the bullet is melted. ' If 



Su^i^gcstions to Military Riflemen. 195 

higher velocities are desired, a copper base or gas 
check must be added to the bullet, as in bullet 
No. 308334. Alloy bullets cause less wear to the 
barrel than jacketed bullets. They are also much 
cheaper, and they give a slightly higher velocity 
with the same charge of powder. 

If jacketed bullets are used, only those having 
cupro-nickel jackets should be purchased. Many 
inierior bullets, jacketed with copper and tin- 
plated, are on the market. These can easily be 
detected by polishing with brass polish. 

Ideal Bullet Metal, procurable from the Ideal 
Manufacturing Company, is composed of 80 
parts lead, 10 parts tin, 7 parts antimony, and 3 
parts copper by weight. It is the most satis- 
factory alloy, as it is tough enough to stand the 
lo-inch twist of the rifling, and has a higher 
melting-point than a plain lead and tin alloy. 

The accuracy of reloaded cartridges depends 
entirely upon the care taken and the skill shown 
in loading. Properly loaded, this reloaded am- 
munition is far superior to the output of the 
machines. 

For mid-range work, a very satisfactory load 
is obtained by using the regular 150-grain Gov- 
ernment jacketed bullet with a powder charge 
31 grains weight of Laflin & Rand "Light- 
' ning" powder. This is a very fine shooting 



196 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

cartridge, and comparatively cheap and very 
■easy to reload. At 500 yards it will require 
an elevation of about 775 yards on the sight. 

Another excellent mid-range load consists of 
Ideal bullet No. 308334, with copper gas check 
on the base and a powder charge of 25 grains 
weight of Lightning powder. The bullet should 
be made of Ideal alloy, lubricated and sized to 
.311 inch. Bullets can be purchased lubricated 
'and sized with gas check affixed from the Ide,tl 
Company, or they can be moulded by the rifle- 
man himself in moulds procured from the same 
firm. This load gives almost no barrel erosion 
at all and is cheaper than the foregoing loa^' 
It is, however, not quite so accurate in high 
winds as the other. This load is used extensive- 
ly in the National Guard and for the school-boys 
shooting in the public-schools. 

For short-range work (200 and 300 yards) 
and sub-skirmish (see Chapter XIV.), I would 
recommend Ideal bullet No. 308280, cast of Ideal 
alloy and sized tO' .311. The powder charge 
should be T5 grains weight of Du Pont Marks- 
man or New Schuetzen powders. A larger 
charge of these powders should not be used be- 
hind a bullet with unprotected base. This load 
gives no barrel erosion at all and is very cheap, 
and quite accurate. The New Schuetzen powder 
is fine and cheaper than Marksman. 



Suggestiojis to Military Riflemen. 



197 



-L' or gallery work, I have found the most satis- 
factory load to be Ideal bullet No. 308241, cast 
of half Ideal alloy and half pure lead and sized 
to .311 inch, with a powder charge of 11 grains 
weight of Marksman or the New Schuetzen pow- 
ders. The bullets can bs purchased from the 
Ideal Company for $4.50 per thousand. This 
load is quite accurate, even at 200 yards. I have 
fired many thousand rounds of it with perfect 
satisfaction, even in the tropics. 




No. 308334. 
FIGURE. 23— Ideal Mi 



154 

No. 308241 



No. 308280. 
and Short-Range Bullets.* 



*r;eneral Drain, President of the National Rifle 
Association and editor of Arms and the Man, reports 
that the first prize, in the late Ideal Short-range Mili- 
tary Rifle Match, amounting to $80, was won by 
Charles B. Chisholm, of Company "C," 5th Infantry, 
O. N. G., 'Cleveland, O. He used bullet No. 308241; 
distance shot, 50 yards, indoor; bull's-eye, 2-inch: 



■198 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

The reloading tools made by the Ideal Manu- 
facturing Company are of two classes : the 
small inexpensive hand tools, intended for in- 
dividual riflemen, and the armory outfits, intend- 
ed for turning out ammunition in large quanti- 
ties. There is no difference ,in the quality of 
the work done with either. The principal arm- 
ory tools are shown in Figure 24. A complete 
hand loading set for loading service ^ammunition, 
and also bullets Nos. 308334 and 308280 or 308- 
241, will cost about $20 with bullet moulds and 
lubricating and sizing machine, or about $9.50 
if one does not intend to mould his own bullets. 
The armory outfit is much more exoensive. The 
Ideal Bullet Metal costs from 11 to 15 cents per 
pound, according to the quantity ordered. 

charge of powder, IOI/2 grns., New Scliiietzen powder; 
his score was G2 consecutive bull's-eyes. The isecond. 

third, fourth, and lifth prizes are awarded Patrick J. 

O'Hare, Private Company "L," 1st Regiment, N. J. N. 

G., Newark, N. J. Tlie scores he made are 58, 54, 48, 

and 29; he used 10 grains Marksman powder; dis- 
tance he shot, 100 yards; 4-inch bull's-eye. Both shot 

from prone position. 

On Lincoln's Birthday, William H. French, of New- 
ark, N. J., using bullet No. 308334, in a 100-shot match, 

200 yards oft-hand, made the following scores: 46, 46, 

45, 40, 45, 43, 46, 44, 43, 47; total, 451. All the shoot- 
ing was done with a Springfield .30-caliber rifle. 
Model 1903, chambered for 1906 ammunition. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



Company and Ti:aai Practice:. 
In taking a company or troop through the reg- 
ular' yearly preliminary and range practice, the 
endeavor should be made not only to obtain a 
high figure of merit for the organization, but 
also to thoroughly instill in each man the correct 
principles of good rifle-shooting. If men are al- 
lowed to use their own crude methods or tO' dis- 
cover for themselves methods at variance with 
those heretofore given, a few of them may de- 
velop into fair shots, but it is safe to say none 
of them will ever become really excellent shots 
until they adopt the correct methods. An ex- 
perienced officer can tell at a glance, when 
watching a company at practice, whether they 
have been well instructed in the correct form, 
or whether their marksmanship has been picked 
up haphazard. It goes without saying that most 
of the effort should be placed on the poorer shots, 
as a company composed of a great number of 
good shots is much more efficient on the firing- 
line than one containing a few excellent shots, 
and the method of calculating the figure of mer- 
it of an organization is so designed as to make 
—200— 



Suggestions to- Military Riflemen. 201 

it more desirable to eliminate the second- and 
third-class men from the company, than it is to 
develop expert riflemen. At the same time the 
presence of a number of excellent shots, well up 
in the theory of shooting, is highly desirable, not 
only that they may act as coaches, but for the 
example they set and the stimulus they give to 
the remainder of the men. 

The following methods and order of proced- 
ure, used in the writer's company of regular 
infantry, have always been so perfectly success- 
ful that it has been deemed advisable to give 
them here: 

When, the period for preliminary drills has 
been designated by the regimental commander, 
the recruits and all men who have joined since 
the last regular target season are personally ani 
individually instructed in the method of aiming 
correctly and in cleaning the rifle. The whole 
company are then put at work on the third tri- 
pod exercise, making triangles (see Paragraphs 
14 to 22, Small- Arms Firing Regulations). In- 
stead of the ordinary tripod with sand-bag, it has 
been found much better to use for holding the 
rifle a solid post 8x8 inches, firmly planted in 
the ground and projecting therefrom 4 feet 4 
inches, having on its top a clamp or vise similar 
to the vise on a carpenter's work-bench. The 



202 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

aim of the rifle is never disturbed in this, and 
the practice is greatly faciHtated. In order to 
throw the sights off the mark, the elevation and 
windage of the rear sight are merely changed. As 
soon as a man succeeds in making fairly small 
triangles with both open and peep sight, he is 
excused from this work. The whole company 
will qualify in about four days, and no advantage 
is gained in keeping up this form of instruction 
any longer. 

The men are next personally instructed in as- 
suming the correct prone position, and in using 
the gun-sling. No amount of pains and time is 
spared in getting every man absolutely perfect 
in this position. The men are told that this posi- 
tion and the use of the sling is compidsory. This 
is followed by position and aiming drills in the 
prone position. The trigger - pull exercise is 
used almost exclusively and usually ''at will," 
the men being encouraged tO' pull twelve shots 
as carefully as possible, and then take a short 
rest. This trigger-pull exercise in the prone 
position is continued daily for the remainder of 
the preliminary period, being so arranged that 
each man gets about lo minutes a day of it, the 
idea being that the men must be thoroughly at 
home and comfortable in the prone position. Re- 
ferring to the regular season's course, it will be 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 203 

seen that in record practice a man going through 
the marksman's and sharpshooter's course an'i 
expert test fires 143 shots prone, 30 sittin,s^, and 
30 standing, and moreover the prone position *-. 
used at the most difficult ranges ; hence the gre '.t 
amount of attention given it. 

About this time gallery practice is started, 
shooting in the prone position first, at 50 fe^t 
slow fire on the iron target. 

The sitting position is next taken up. A lit- 
tle more latitude is allow^ed the men in assum- 
ing this position, it being merely stipulated that 
both elbows must be rested upon the knees, and 
that the heels must be placed in deep holes. 
During these positions and aiming drills the pick- 
mattock intrenching tools are brought out to 
facilitate making elbow and heel holes in hard 
turf. Gallery practice in, the sitting position 
follows. 

The standing position is next taught. No pre- 
scribed position is insisted upon, but the instruct- 
or endeavors to get each man to use a good 
steady position best suited to his own comforma- 
tion and muscular development. Gallery practice 
in this position then follows. 

When the instruction in the three positions is 
completed, rapid fire is next taken, up. The in- 
struction again starts with the prone position, 



204 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

then the sitting and standing. The rapid-fire ex- 
ercise of position and aiming drills is first used, 
then the men pass to timed fire gallery practice 
on the c;o-foot target, and fin,ally to rapid fire on 
an improvised rapid-fire gallery target. 

Next skirmish fire is taken up, squads mak- 
ing duD^ — runs under a competent instructor, 
either on the regular range or at targets placed 
on the parade-ground. Great stress is laid on 
the proper manipulation of the piece and the cor- 
rect setting of sights. Various winds are as- 
sumed and allowance made for them. 

A certain class of men, the best shots in the 
company, will quickly qualify and graduate from 
this kind of instruction. These are put to work 
on a 50-yard range with the .22-caliber Win- 
chester single-shot rifle. 

Four or five men, the best shots practically and 
theoretically, are utilized during this work as as- 
sistant coaches, but the ofiicers should give very 
close personal attention. 

In position and aiminp* drills, targets are used 
which approximate as closely as 'Possible in ap- 
pearance and visual angle to what the men will 
see on the range. For instance, for nosition and 
aiming drill in the prone ^osition the target con- 
sists of a long board, painted dirty green, to rep- 
resent the butts on the regular range. Above it 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen, 205 

appear the targets subtending the same visual 
angle as do the B targets at 500 yards. These 
targets are of brown ( not white) paper, so as to 
make the simile complete, and they are placed 
so as to appear just as far apart as do the tar- 
gets on the regular range. This trains the eyes 
and the men feel more at home when they come 
to aim at the regular targets on, the range. 

Every day tnese preliminary drills conclu Ic 
with the company in single rank, and the posi- 
tion exercise is given. 'This exercise is not given 
as a drill, but as an exercise pure and simple, 
being continued until the men have to stop from 
sheer fatigue, the idea being to develop the 
muscles used in holding the rifle to the fullest 
extent. Needless to say, it would be a mistake to 
give this exercise at any time other than the 
conclusion of the drill. 

Lectures are interspersed with this work every 
few days. First, the men are told the imnortance 
of calling their shots, and this in.sisted upon all 
through the aiming drills and gallery practice. 
Then they are instructed as to the value of 25 
yards change in elevation and i point in windage 
at each range, and the necessity of accurately 
and quickly ■ getting their rifles so sighted that 
their shots strike the spot where thev call their 
shots. In this connection they are taught to use 



206 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

the "Table of oight-Adustments" given in Chap- 
ter Vii,, but they are not required to memorize 
anything, being told that they will find these 
tables at the firing-point when they reach' the 
ranee. Next windage allowance is lectured on, 
and the men are taught to use the diagram of 
flag-lifts and windage tables. The instructor 
tries to make everything as simple as possible, 
giving the men nothing tO' memorize, but rather 
trying to instill in them the principles and rea- 
sons. If these lectures are made too complicated 
or scientific, they are apt to do more harm than 
good, the attitude of the men being, "Oh, what 's 
the use? That 's toO' deep for me; I can never 
learn that,'^ etc. Only one idea should be in- 
stilled at a time, and that idea should be thor- 
oughly carried 'out in the next three or four 
days' practical work. Occasionally the men's 
pride in developing themselves into good shots, 
efficient fighting men, should be appealed to, and 
also- their desire for extra pay for increased 
grades of qualification. 

The interest in this work should never be al- 
lowed to lag. The instruction should be so 
varied as not to become monotonous. Men, 
should not be kept hanging around for a long 
time awaiting their turn, but should be allowel 
to go to the squad-room, to be called out in. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 207 

plenty of time by their squad leader. It will be 
noticed that the men in the above course of in- 
struction are steadily changed from one class cf 
work to another. They progress from slow t-; 
timed fire, and just before their interest wanes 
in this they go to rapid fire on the queer little 
disappearing target, and their interest comes u^) 
again. Then comes skirmish. All this may be 
followed and interspersed by competitions, in- 
dividual squad, section, and platoon, and gallery 
matches wit|h other companies. Men making 
exceptionally high scores are granted certain 
privileges, prizes are given to the best squad each 
week, etc. This preliminary drill, extensive and 
complicated as it may seem, can and usually is 
completed in 60 hours, usually distributed over '• 
period of about a month. Three or four squads 
are always kept working^ at a time, each on a dif- 
ferent thing, and the average daily work of a pri- 
vate does not exceed i hour. The men have an 
easy time, they are not tired out, and they look 
forward to this period of instruction. 

The company then passes to the regular sea- 
son's course on the range. Preliminary to this, 
requisition is made for ammunition and cleaning 
materials. .The ammunition is placed in the 
store-room, opened, and the names of four men 
placed on each box. Men are instructed to use 



208 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

ammunition from their own box only ; hence they 
have the same ammunition and their elevations 
and zeros are constant throughout all their shoot- 
ing. Quart bottles of saturated solution of sal 
soda and water are given to each corporal for 
the use of his squad in cleaning their rifles, but 
the men are advised that their chances for high 
qualification are better if they will purchase the 
regular metal fouling solution. Enough of this 
solution is purchased from the company fund to 
clean all the rifles in the company just before 
starting record practice. Tables of sight-adjust- 
ment and windage are made on strong paper, 
and placed on small boards, one for each firing- 
point, for the information of the coach and men 
shooting there. Candles are provided in each 
squad for blacking the sights. The hand-cart 
takes to the rang? each dav the following articles : 

Score-cards in box. 

Firing Regulations. 

Pencils. 

Cleaning-rod. 

Gunny-sack for empty shells. 

Camp stools for officers, first sergeant, and 
coaches. 

Two pick-mattocks. 

Boards containing Sight and Windage 
Tables. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 209 

Candle. 

Four pair field-glasses. 

Canvas sheets (in wet weather only). 
The men are divided into three sections for 
shooting. One section goes to the range at the 
hour of commencing shooting daily, and the oth- 
ers follow at intervals of about an hour and a 
quarter. Each man as he finishes shooting re- 
turns to the barracks immediately if no longer 
needed. This arrangement is made so that no 
man will have to lie around in the hot sun for 
three or four hours before shooting, a thing 
which will take the interest and life out of amy- 
one. The daily order of shooting is as follows : 

1. Extra and special duty men. They return 
to their work immediately after firing, carrying a 
slip showing the time thev left the range, 15 min- 
utes being added to the time to enable them to 
clean their rifles before going to work. 

2. Ofiicers and coaches. They must shoot be- 
fore their eyes and nerves are tired from the 
instruction of the other men. They also gain a 
better idea of weather conditions which helps 
them in their subsequent work. 

3. The three sections in the order in which 
they arrive on the range. 

4. The non-commissioned officer in chareeof 
quarters, cooks, kitchen poHce, room orderlies, 



210 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

etc., are allowed to shoot as soon as they arriv % 
and immediately return. 

Often these methods cannot be carried out, ow- 
ing perhaps to firing at two ranges in the same 
day, to special arrangements for skirmish runs, 
to instructions from higher authority, etc. But 
they, or some similar arrangements, are great 
helps. 

The men are required, by company order, to 
have their sights blackened and adjusted for 
the estimated elevation and windage. Before get- 
ting into position, thev show these to the coach, 
who verifies them. The coach instructs the men 
during all the instruction practice, every shot 
being pulled under his personal supervision. 
Coaching is very difficult and fatiguing work, 
and one coach would soon become worn out. 
Therefore a number of the best men in, the com- 
pany are selected early and trained as coaches, 
so that there may be at least three available for 
each firing-point. 

A coach should be perfectly familiar with all 
the science and practice of rifle-shooting. It is 
desirable also that he be a good shot himself; 
otherwise he will fail to gain the confidence of 
many menu During the last few years, coaching 
has approached a very fine point, so that given' 
men who can hold perfectly, sight correctly, and 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 211 

pull the trigger without deranging the ^aim, a 
competent coach should be able to cause them to 
make the scores of experts even if they know lit- 
tle of the art of rifle-shooting. However, some- 
thing more thani science is demanded in a good 
coach. He must understand human nature, 
must know his men and be able to judge their 
characteristics. Coaching should take the form 
of careful advice and plainly understood direc- 
tions. The coach should always avoid antagon- 
izing his men. An officer who is feared by his 
men will never succeed as a coach. There are 
some men in every company who stand in so 
much awe of their officers that the officers can 
do very little with them. It is better to turn the 
coaching of such men over tO' an experienced pri- 
vate, and to rarely speak to the men while they 
are at the firing-point. 

The coach should get night down on the 
ground alongside his man, taking care, how- 
ever, not to shade his sights. All his directions 
should be in a low voice. He should avoid arbi- 
trary directions and should be careful to give 
the reason for every bit of advice he gives, for 
his aim is not only to cause the man to make a 
good score, but also to give him valuable instruc- 
tion. He should see that the man calls his shots 
every time, and calls them truthfully. 



212 Suggestions to Militcif'y Ri-flemen. 

Coaching is particularly trying work on the 
man who attempts it, especially on the eyesight 
and nervous system. The coach should never 
attempt to watch every shot marked. Instead he 
should detail a man for a few scores to act as 
a spotter, 'the spotter tells the coach the exact 
location of each shot as it is marked. Fifty 
shots is enough work for one spotter, and he 
should tken be relieved by another man, or there 
is danger of eye-strain. A man should not be re- 
quired to act as spotter just before his firing. 
Also the coach should make himself as com- 
fortable as possible at the firing-point. A "Gold 
Medal" folding chair is very comfortable and 
convenient, and it brings one down near the 
ground, as he should be to properly attend to 
his man. The poor shots and the men who have 
a tendency to flinch should always receive their 
instruction from the Dest coach available. Be- 
fore the man leaves the firing-point, the coach 
should make careful memorandum of his sight- 
adjustments and weather conditions, particularly 
wind, each coach having a small memorandum- 
book for this purpose. 

At 200 yards, both slow and rapid fire, the 
coach can do little but see that the men have 
their sights set correctly, that they assume good 
positions, and that they are careful about pulling 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 213 

the trigger. At 300 yards a little more can be 
attempted, but it is in slow fire lying down that 
the coach gets in his best work. He must hei;; 
see that the men call their shots and quickly get 
their sights so adjusted that their shots hit the 
point called. The sights must be moved accurate- 
ly and just the right amount, the coach show- 
ing the man the "Table of Sight-Adjustments,'^ 
and requiring him to tell him the correct change. 
The weather conditions must be- watched closely, 
any change seen at once, and the man explained 
what change is necessary. 

Men who fail to make their qualification as 
"Alarksman" will almost invariably be found to 
have failed through low scores at skirmish. This 
must be ever kept in view through the whole of 
the marksman's course, and every effort made 
to get data for skirmish elevations and zeros. 
It has been found of the greatest advantage, 
after instruction practice slow fire has been com- 
pleted, to take the company back to 200 and 300 
yards and allow them to carefully target their 
rifles in the prone position. Before instruction 
skirmish runs are begun, all the elevation and 
windage data gathered by the coaches should be 
gone over and the elevations and zeros for each 
man worked out and given to him on a card, 
thus : 



214 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 





Skirmish Data. 






Smith, W. J. 




Range. 


Elevation. 


Zero. 


6(30 


640 


34R 


500 


575 


MR 


400 


500 





350 


450 





300 


400 





200 


325 






This card is pinned to the man's left cuff in 
such a manner that whenever he assumes thi fir- 
ing position during the skirmish run it is in full 
view, telling him exactly how to set his sights. 
The coach who is taking the skirmish run down 
previously gives instructions as to the amount cf 
windage to use at each range. Extra men pro- 
vided with target diagrams and pencils follow 
the run behind the skirmishers, and, watching the 
target, carefully note on the diagram where the 
various shots struck, as indicated by the dust. 
After the run, the man's score and actual hits on 
the target are also noted on this diagram, and it 
is then pinned to the skirmish data card and the 
whole turned in to be used as additional data in 
computing elevations and zeros for the record 
skirmish runs. 

In record practice, coaching, of course, is not 
allowed. The most experienced coach in the 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 215 

company inspects each man's sight - adjustment 
before he goes to the firing-point, gives him the 
wind allowance and any other advice he thinks 
Hiecessary. When the man gets to the firing- 
point, he finds there a score-card having on it 
the value of elevation and windage adjustments 
for that range, taken from the "Table of Sight- 
Adjustments." If he is in doubt at any time, he 
can refer to this, in making his sight-corrections. 
Behind each firing-point is another coach, who 
sees that each shot is marked and scored correct- 
ly, and looks out for safety precautions. On leav- 
ing the firing-point, the man gives to the coach vA 
that firing-point his sight-adjustments, which are 
recorded and used as additional data for the rec- 
ord skirmish runs. The 600-yard slow-fire record 
also becomes very valuable as data for the eleva 
tions in collective fire, jj^very efifort is made to 
work out absolutely correct elevations for the 
record skirmish runs, using all the elevation rec- 
ords at slow fire, both instruction and record, and 
al.'o the records of the instruction skirmish runs. 
The same principles are carried out through 
the sharpshooters' course. At long rans"e the 
elevation records include a record of temper- 
ature. All men taking this course are required 
to use a score-book. Careful record is made of 
the wind and wind allowance at 500 yards, rapid 



216 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

fire. Micrometers are available for such men, as 
have sufficient education to use them. The long- 
range targets are marked with spotters. Field- 
glasses or telescopes are provided at each firing- 
point and the men are taught to watch the mir- 
age. The whole practice is conducted, as it were, 
like a post - graduate course. By these methods 
it has been found that about three-fourths of the 
marksmen will quaHfy as sharpshooters. 

The principal factors having to do with gain- 
ing a high figure of merit in collective fire are 
clear, well-trained, and loud commands, a care- 
ful adjustment of all sights at the correct ele- 
vations, and a close observation of the target 
with powerful field-glasses during the firing. At 
600 yards, all the company should be required to 
set their sights for the nrst volley at their reg- 
ular 600-yard elevation as determined in the 
marksman's course. At 800 yards, all who' have 
fired the sharpshooter's course set their sights at 
their regular 800-yard elevation. The remain- 
der of the company use an elevation just 200 
yards above their regular 600-yard elevation, 
and likewise at 1000 yards. One of the lieu^ten- 
ants carefully observes the target through a pow- 
erful field-glass or telescope durinp- the firing, and 
it depends upon his observance- of the first vol- 
ley at each range whether the elevations of the 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 217 

sights, for the succeeding volleys or fire at will, 
shall be changed or not. The company is in- 
structed to aim at the lower line of the prone 
figures, front sight just touching the figures. 
The right squad aim a little to the right of the 
center of the group, and the left squad a little Lt; 
the left; the remainder of the company aim at 
the center. If possible, a day should be selected 
-when the ground is dry, and when there is no 
mirage. Allowance should be made for wind by 
requiring each man to set his sights so many 
points right or left of his zero. 

Prior to the expert rifleman's test, the sharp- 
shooters who are to take the test are given as 
much extra practice as the ammunition allow- 
ance of the company will permit. Timed fire, 
long range, and a thorough checking of skirm- 
ish elevations should be given. On the day of 
the test the most" exoerienced coach of the com- 
pany should be present to give the men advice as 
to their elevations, windage, etc., just prior to 
firing at each range. 

Team Practice. 

As soon as the team is selected, the team cap- 
tain and coach should organize them into pairs 
and arrange the order of their shooting. No men 
should be paired together who are not on friend- 



218 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

ly terms. The best men at coaching and wind 
judgment should be paired with the poorer men. 
The first pair to shoot should be selected for their 
good judgment as to elevation and wind and 
their ability to find the target quickly. If they 
are the best shots, so much the better, as in a 
match the morale of the team depends greatly on 
getting a good start. Thc^ last pair should be 
old seasoned shots, not liable to get excited. 
They should also be able to shoot in bad lights, 
as often matches have been prolonged until al- 
most dark. Once this order has been arranged, 
it should be adhered to and not changed except 
for the most important reasons. 

When the practice starts, the principal duty of 
the coach is to see that the pairs coach one an- 
otiier in the best possibly way. In slow fire, 
while one man is' firing his partner should have 
his eye at the telescope, watching for any change 
^ in mirage or light, and trying, when the shot 
is fired, to catch its dust. He should caution his 
partner not to fire on the wrong target (many 
matches have been lost through one shot on the 
wrong target), and he must check him should 
there be any change in conditions. Pair coach- 
ing reaches its greatest development during a 
fish-tail wind, during which the coacher must be 
constantly watching the mirage and telling his 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 219 

partner to aim at 6, 5, or 7 o'clock, according: as 
the mirage drifts. 

In rapid or timed fire, the partner not firing 
should be provided with a stop-watch, and should 
call in a low voice to his partner the expiration 
of each five seconds of time, as 5, 10, 15, etc. 

In skirmish fire, should anyone notice a change 
in wind or other conditions, he should at once 
remark on it in, a loud voice, so that those on 
either side of him can hear him. 

As soon as possible, the elevation and zeros 
of all the rifles must be accurately learned, and 
their dififerences noted, so that one pair leaving 
the firing-point can give to the next pair their 
exact elevation and windage. Thus the good 
shooting will be continuous and no shots will 
be lost in finding correct sight-adjustments. To 
this end, when a pair come to the firing - point, 
they should enter in their score-books the ele- 
vation, and windage of the pair going before 
them and should make their calculations from 
that, taking care that there has been no change 
in the conditions in the mean time. Keeping a 
record of this is also one of the duties of the 
coach. 

At skirmish, other things being correct, a small 
error in judging the wind will ruin a team's 
score and their chance for winning. 



220 Suggestions to Military Rifienien, 

An excellent way of teaching a team to cor- 
rectly estimate the wind is to have in readiness 
every day on the range several raoid-fire F tar- 
gets. The first thing each man should do when 
he comes to the range is to estimate the condi- 
tions carefully, set his sights, lie down, and fire 
one shot at this target at 600 yards. This shot, 
whether it hits the figure or not, will give him 
his data. Having the 600-yard data, the wind- 
age for the whole run can easily be figured. 

This practice takes hardly any time, and by 
continuing it daily there will gradually develop 
in. the team three or four men who estimate the 
wind so closely that they hit the figure nearly 
every time. When it comes to actual runs, the 
combined estimate of these men can be taken for 
the team, and I should say that nine times of 
ten it will be found to be the correct windage. 
By the way, this is an excellent way of fouling 
the pieces, and thus getting some good out of a 
few cartridges otherwise wasted. 

The guns of every member of the team should 
be zeroed together, so that when one man gets his 
correct elevation and windage, all the others can 
set their sights correctly from that data. 

In 1907 the skirmish targets at the National 
Match were set a foot above the butt and 
against the sky; therefore no dust could be seen 



Suggestions to Military Rijlemcn. 221 

to show where the shots were going. Some 
team captains had one man of the team drop a 
shot or two into the butt below the target at 600 
yards, to gtt a correct Une on the wind, The 
captain, lying behind this man with a powerful 
field-glass, caught the dust thrown up by th.: 
shot, and gave the wind to the rest of the team, 
shouting, for instance, "Hold a foot to the ris^ht." 
While perhaps good in theory, this scheme failed 
to work very well in practice, for the following 
reasons : 

The man firing the trial shot found great diffi- 
culty, while aiming so low, in getting his sights 
aligned exactly under the center of the figure. 

The responsibility placed upon him caused him 
to become nervous, and he was liable to get a 
bad pull. 

The team captain was sometimes unable to see 
the dust, particularly when the ground was wet. 

The information came to the other members 
of the team too late to be acted on with accuracy. 

It was extremely hard for the men on the ends 
of the line to hear the captain's warning. 

For these reasons I believe the best plan is to 
take the combined estimate of the best wind 
''dopers" of the team. But it is necessarv that 
these men have special training in this, as out- 
lined above. 



222 Suggestions to Military Rifiemen. 

Skirmish is quick work. On a run, something 
has to be done every second of the time. It is 
difficult, indeed, to do any coaching without rat- 
tHng the men. 

Every member of the team should be provided 
with an extra rifle, to fall back upon in. case 
anything happens to his regular piece. The ele- 
vations and zero of this rifle should be known 
accurately. 

During practice the team captain should pub- 
lish only the total score made by each pair at a 
range, and the total team score at skirmish. 
Each man knows, of course, what he made him- 
self. This is merely a precaution to be taking 
in encouraging pair coaching, and i*i getting tlii 
team to work as a team, abolishing all ideas of 
individual competition. Nothing can hurt a team 
more than, this latter condition. When each man 
is shooting to beat his neighbor, the morale and 
esprit de corps of the team is gone and the team 
is defeated before the match. Each man should 
shoot to make the highest score he possibly can, 
but, above all, to try tO' help his partner and the 
next pair to make higher scores still. 

All these remarks pertain, of course, to pre- 
paring for competitions like the National Match, 
where coaching, except pair coaching, is pro- 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 223 

hibited. In matches where regular coaching" is 
allowed, the procedure does not differ much. 
The coach's place is at the firing-point, between 
the two men firing. No shot should be pulle<i 
unless all three men agree as to conditions and 
sight-adjustment. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



The: Ri^lKman on the: Batti.e:fie:ld. 

Rifle-firing in battle, with all its excitement, 
ignorance of exact range, unsteadiness from ex- 
ertion, noise, confusion, indistinctness and mo- 
tion of the target, is a very different matter in- 
deed from range-firing. At the same time, there 
is no doubt that target-shooting properly con- 
ducted is an excellent preparation for firing in 
action. The soldier who makes hits in battle is 
the one who has been so well trained on the 
range that without thought he never fails to take 
aim and to pull the trigger carefully without 
jerk. There are many conditions which con- 
front the rifleman on the battlefield which never 
occur on the target range, and I have thought -'t 
well to consider some of these in this work. 



from a Rest. 



On account of the excitement and exertion, it 
will often be difficult for the men to hold their 

—224- 



Suggestions to Military Rifiem'^n. 225 

rifles with any degree of steadiness. The best 
way 'to overcome the trembling is to rest the 
rifle on some stationary object. In firing from 
an intrenchment, it will also usually become nec- 
essary to fire in this manner. A rifle shoots 
much higher when fired from a rest than when 
held in any pne of the prescribed positions. This 
is on account of the solid rest interfering with 
the flip or vibration of the barrel. Moreover, a 
rifle does not shoot as accurately in this way 
(machine rest excepted) as it does when held 
in the hands of the man. A rifle will shoot the 
highest above its normal elevation when the bar- 
rel is rested on the object just back of the muz- 
zle, and the difference becomes less as the point 
of rest approaches the trigger-guard. SoHd rests 
like stone cause the rifle to shoot higher than 
soft rests like turf. The Krag rifle resting on a 
sand-bag 6 inches from the muzzle calls for a 
reduction of about loo yards in the range. The 
same point of rest in the Model 1903 arm calls 
for about a 200-yard reduction. A safe rule is to 
deduct 150 yards from the range with the 1903 
rifle if fired from a rest, and 7^ yards with the 
Krag. Firing from a rest also alters the zero of 
the rifle, but this may, of course, be disregarded 
in action, as we are only desirous of exact eleva- 
tion and a little horizontal dispersion Is an ad- 
vantage rather than otherwise. 



226 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



The Bayonet. 
The rifle will shoot much lower when the bay- 
onet is fixed ; also the zero is very much changed. 
These differences are very variable for different 
guns, and will have to be determined in each 
case. As the bayonet is only fixed at close quar- 
ters, and as the character of fire at short ranges 
is almost always rapid where men are apt to 
shoot high, the causing of the rifle to shoot lower 
by fixing the bayonet works to our advantage. 
This, of course, applies to the knife bayonet. 
The fixing of the rod bayonet does not make 
much difference at short range. 

The Battle Sight. 
When the opposing lines get within mid range 
(600 yards) of each other, the sights will usual- 
ly be ordered "laid down" and the battle sight 
required to be used. The battle sight is correct 
for 530 yards rang'e ; hence with this sight at 
shorter ranges the rifle will shoot high, and at 
longer ranges low. The following table shows 
the difference in aim which should be taken : 
At 100 yards aim about 13 inches low. 



high. 



' 200 




' 23 " 


' 300 




' 27 " 


' 400 




' 19 " 


' 500 




6 " 


' 600 




" 24 " 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 227 
The Ammunition. 

The ammunition issued to the soldier in time 
of war win be from many different lots, much of 
it being manufactured by private factories on 
rush orders, and it will not he as reliable as that 
obtained from the Government arsenals, in time 
of peace. This was the experience in 1898. 
Moreover, one never gets the same date of am- 
munition twice, and thus he can never tell what 
his exact elevation and zero will be. The only 
thing to do is to use the normal elevations, trusi 
to luck, and try to see where the first bullet 
strikes by watching closely for the dust. 

The Sis:hts. 

The sights must be guarded with great care 
against any blows which might throw them out 
of alignment. It will be impossible to keep them 
blackened, nor is this desirable when firing at 
khaki-clad targets in all sorts of cover and with 
all colors of background. Bright sights are, 
however, just as much of a disadvantage as on 
the target range. It will be an advantage to 
carry in one's pocket (not near rations, for it is 
poisonous), a lump of blue vitriol (sulphate of 
copper, or blue-stone, used in telegraph batter- 
ies V By moistening this and rubbmg it on the 



228 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

front sight, the sight will become lightly plated 
with copper and will then show up very plainly 
on objects in the field without any glistening. 
The application of a little heat will turn the cop- 
per-plated sight back to a dead black. 

Firing Up and Down Slopes. 

When calculating elevations for an object 
vvhich is either up- or down-hill, use only the 
base of the triangle, or the horizontal distance 
between the riflemen and the object, and not the 
actual distance on the ground. The tendency 
in firing down-hill is to overshoot, due to too 
great an estimation of the distance and the fact 
that in looking down one sees and aims at the 
top of the object, and therefore is very liable to 
fire over. It is a good rule, in firing down-hill, 
never to use any elevation for distances less than 
500 yards. In firing up or down cliffs or at an 
enemy on a house-top, the angle being very 
great, place the rear sight as low as possible and 
hold low, or the rifle will overshoot. 

Firing at Objects in Motion. 

While the velocity of modern arms is extreme- 
ly swift, yet some lead or allowance is necessary 
at all but the shortest ranges. The aim must 
be taken at tjie estimated number of feet in front 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 229 

of the object that the object would travel during 
the time it takes the bullet to travel the distance. 
Let us take an example : An officer of the enemy 
is running from one bit of cover to another, di- 
rection of motion at right angles to the line of 
fire. Range 500 yards. At a run the officer will 
probably cover about 20 feet per second. The 
time of flight of the Model 1903 rifle at 500 
yards is .709 seconds. Therefore the lead nec- 
essary is about 14 feet. Aim quite a little in 
front of the officer and on the same horizontal 
line. Try to get the gun ofif the instant he 
crosses a line 14 feet from your line of sight. 
If the man were moving obliquely at an angle 
of 45 degrees', only one-half the above lead would 
be necessary. 

If the enemy is moving toward one, he should 
aim at the feet of the enemy, and if the enemy 
is retreating, he should aim at the shoulders. 

A man in quick time covers 5 feet per second ; 
in double time, g feet per, second; running, 20 
feet per second. 

A horse at a walk covers 5 feet per second ; at 
a trot, 15 feet per second ; at a gallop, 25 feet per 
second ; at top speed, 46 feet per second. 

In this work one must be very careful not to 
overestimate the lead, as there is a tendency to 
do so, and it is very difficult to estimate feet 
when looking over the sights. 



230 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Importance of the Direction of the Sun. 

if one can get the sun over his own back and 
shining in the eyes of the enemy, he has attained 
a great advantage, which increases the nearer tiie 
sun approaches to the horizon. It will be almost 
impossible for him to be sighted upon with the 
sun near the horizon and back of him unless lie 
outlines himself against the sky-line, while he 
can see and sight on the enemy with great clear- 
ness. If, on the other hand, the sun is in one's 
eyes and at the enemy's back, he should seek par- 
ticularly good cover under the shade of trees, 
if possible. It is a great advantage under these 
circumstances to rig up sun-shades for the sights. 
These can be easily and quickly made by using 
the small pasteboard boxes which will be found 
in each pocket of the bandolier. Pull out the 
ends and partitions and slip them as shades over 
the sights. Under these conditions, sights which 
do not blur are worth their weight in gold. It 
is the writer's opinion that the direction of the 
sun in planning attacks is not taken enouo'h into 
consideration. 

Judging the Wind. 

Unlike firing on the range,, there are no flags 
to give the force and direction of the wind. 
However, mirage is often present, and we also 



Suggestions to Military Rifemen. 231 

can judge the wind from the smoke-puffs, the 
waving of the grass and trees, the flight of in- 
sects, the feel of the wind on the face, and the 
way in which a few blades of grass thrown 
straight up in the air are blown away from the 
person. Horizontal errors caused by wind and 
other components do not figure much in battle, 
where errors of this kind give a dispersion nt 
the shots that is very much to be desired. They 
do figure considerably, however, when one has 
a chance to fire on a leader of the enemy. 

Finding the Range. 

The methods of estimating distance given in 
Small-Arms Firing Regulations, together with 
trial shots, must of necessity constitute the only 
method for the individual rifleman to determine 
the range until such time as a satisfactory range- 
finder is invented. It is often better in firing 
trial shots, to aim at some bare spot, where the 
dust kicked up by the bullet cstn be seen, than 
directly at the enemy. To see the dust at long 
range, a pair of field-glasses are needed. If a 
companion is not at hand to observe the shot 
the glasses should be placed on an extemporized 
mount, just to the right of the right eye in the 
aiming position, and should be focused and set 
on the spot aimed at. It is then easy, immedi- 



232 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

ately after firing the shot, to dart the head to 
the right so that the right eye looks through the 
glasses. At looo yards and over, this can be 
done quickly enough to catch the dust of the 
shot. 

In finding the range for the company in action 
the following method is suggested : The com- 
pany is presumed to be about to open the first 
fire in the attack, defense or fire of position. 
The company being in line of skirmishers at a 
halt, the captain orders the expert riflemen to the 
right and left flanks and gives the command. 
"Find the Range." The expert riflemen, pro- 
vided with field-glasses or telescope sights, set- 
tle down in pairs on either flank and endeavor 
by trial shots to find the range. The first lieu- 
tenant, taking command of the remainder of the 
cotnpany, endeavors to find the range by trial 
volleys. The second lieutenant and the two 
musicians proceed to determine the range with 
the Weldon range-finder. When each party is 
satisfied that they have determined the range, 
they notify the captain, what it is. The captain 
stops the work when he is satisfied that he has 
the true range. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Thk Eyes. 

There is no doubt that rifle-shooting is a ter- 
rific strain on the eyes. We use our eyes to aim 
the rifle, to see the target marked, to catch the 
dust where the buUet strikes, to jud^e the mir- 
age, and to watch the flags and Hght; and from 
all this long-distance work we must jump quick- 
ly to the delicate adjustment of the sights and 
entries in the score-book. It well behooves even 
those with good strong eyes to take extra care of 
them during the target season. The eyes should 
never be used any more than is absolutely neces- 
sary, and then never for long-continued intervals. 
The judging of mirage with the telescope is a 
severe strain. For this work it is best to use the 
left eye, so as to save the right for the strain of 
aiming. Dark smoke-colored goggles are excel- 
lent to rest the eyes from the intense light often 
present on the range, but they should never be 
used in shooting. These are better than green 
or blue, because they are less opaque and there 
is less loss of color in objects seen through thein 

—233— 



234 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

After a trying day on the range, the eyes should 
be bathed in cold water, or, if any inflammation 
be present, in very hot water in which boracic 
acid has been dissolved. 

Perfect vision is the greatest necessity to rifle- 
men. If one's eyes are not normal, then they 
must be aided by glasses to attain perfect vis- 
ion. Refractive errors in the eyes are of three 
kinds : far-sightedness, near-sightedness, and as- 
tigmatism. The fitting of glasses should never 
be trusted to anyone but a skilled oculist. This 
should be impressed on all riflemen with imper- 
fect vision. Glasses selected promiscuously sim- 
ply because they seem to give one perfect vision 
are very liable to ruin the eyes permanently in 
one target season by reason of the great strain 
from ill-fitting and wrong refraction ; whereas 
in the ordinary work of every-day life trouble 
might not be noticed with them in five years. 
The glasses used should be very large, so that 
one in aiming will not see around their rims. 
Gold, silver, or aluminum frames should be used, 
as they will not rust. Ordinary lenses have only 
the full correction in the center, but the rifleman 
always aims through the extreme upper left- 
hand corner of his right-eye lens. For this rea- 
son, shooting spectacles should always be of the 
toric or meniscus type, in which the line of sight 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 235 

in aiming: passes throiii^h the lens perpendicula" 
to its surface. These lenses have the full cor- 
rection to their very edges, and if the glasses 
be well fitted, there is no strain, as there un- 
doubtedly is in using the ordinary lenses. It 
is a great advantage to some men to have the 
glasses just a little smoke- or amber-tinted, as 
this will take the glare out of the eyes, prevent 
them getting tired, and even seems to aid the 
vision,. 

Most oculists, in prescribing glasses for far- 
and near-sightedness, will give those which have 
not quite the corrective powers necessary to give 
absolutely perfect vision, in order that the eyes 
may have a little leeway to work for their own 
good. While this is correct for glasses for ordi- 
nary wear, the shooting glasses should always 
have the full correction to give normal eyesight, 
as without this there will surely be strain. 

It is an advantage, if one can do so, to shoot 
with both eyes open, as it causes less strain. 
Sometimes a man will be found whose eyes are 
in such condition that it is impossible to get per- 
fect vision, for him with the aid of any kind of 
glasses. The only hope for such a man is the 
telescope sight. Many experts have unusual vis- 
ion. Some can see the spotting disks on the 



236 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

looo-yard target with the naked eye alone. I 
have also in mind the case of a man who could 
see the bullets "splash" on, the steel target at 
600 yards. Such men, of course, have a great 
advantage over men with ordinary eyes. 



APPENDIX. 



The: U. S. Magazine Rifle, Caliber .30, 

Model 1898. 

( Krag-Jorgensen. ) 

The Model 1903 rifle has superseded this 
arm in the hands of the Regular Army and Na- 
tional Guard, but it still remains the arm of the 
Navy, Marine Corps, Philippines Constabulary, 
and many military schools and colleges. It has 
therefore been thought best to give the follow- 
ing data regarding this rifle, by the aid of which 
all the foregoing information may be of use if 
one uses the Krag. 

Table oe Sight-Adjustments. 



Range. 



Yards. 



Value on the Value on the 

Target of a Target of a 

change of 25 change of 1 

yards in point in 

Elevation. windage. 

Model 1901 



Inches. 



Sight. 
Inches 



Value on the 

Target of a 

change of 1 

point in 

windage. 

Model 1898, 

1902 & 1903 

Sights. 

Inches. 



200 


3 


12 


8 


300 


5 


18 


12 


500 


17 


30 


20 


600 


22 


36 


24 


800 


35 


48 


32 


900 


41 


54 


36 


1000 


■ 50 


60 


40 



e37- 



238 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 



TabIvK of Risks in Elevation on the 
Micrometer. 

For ammunition manufactured at the Frank- 
ford Arsenal subsequent to 1903, having a 220- 
grain, smooth bullet, and giving an instrumental 
velocity, measured at 53 feet from the muzzle of 
about i960 feet. 

From 200 to 300 yards rise 6' with micrometer. 



300 ' 


350 " 


" 3' •" 


' 350 ' 

400 ' 
' 500 ' 
' 600 ' 


400 
' 500 
' 600 
' 800 " 


" 4. - 

" 9' - 

" 21' ^' 


' 800 ' 


' 900 


" 12' '' 


' 900 ' 


' 1000 " 


" 13' '' 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 239 



roR 3,^,8 AND JO C'CU^k Winls, 







WIND CHART FOR THE KRAC RIFLE. 

3ani<} «'elocl( VKlnit. Mod.l !<{« SCglit. 



240 Suggestions to Military Riflemen. 

Changes in thermometer, barometer, and hy- 
grometer have the same effect and require the 
same micrometer changes on the Model 1898 
rifle as on the Model 1903 rifle. 

The private ammunition companies are now 
making ammunition loaded with a sharp-pointed 
bullet, which is more accurate than the old form 
of bullet. This ammunition requires lower ele- 
vation on the sights, and about half the allow- 
ance for wind that is required for the old bullet. 

Micrometers for the Model 1898 rifle can, be 
had from the J. Stevens Arms and Tool Com- 
pany, Chicopee Falls, Mass., and from Thomas 
J. Conroy, 28 John Street, New York city. 

The Ideal Handbook gives many excellent 
mid- and short-range loads for this rifle. 

The best treatise dn this rifle is ''Modern Rifle- 
Shooting,^' by Dr. W. G. Hudson, procurable 
from Rifle Smokeless Divison, E. I. Du Pont de 
Nemours Powder Co., Wilmington, Del. 



U. S. Magazini: Carbink, Cal. .30, Model I( 
(Krag-Jorgensen Carbine.) 
Formerly the arm of the cavalry of the Reg- 
ular Army and National Guard. Now used by 
the Philippine Constabulary and some military 
schools and colleges. 



Suggestions to Military Riflemen, 241 

Table of Rise:s in Elevation with the 
Micrometer. 

Frankford Arsenal ammunition, 220-gTain bul- 
let; velocity, 1880 feet. 
From 200 to 300 yards raise 4.9' with micrometer. 



300 " 350 " 


'• 2.7' 


350 '' 400 " 


" 2.9' 


400 " 500 " 


" 6.6' 


500 '' 600 

r 1 


'.' 7-r 



One minute of elevation with the micrometer 
will move the shot 1.43 inches for every 100 
yards of range, or practically i^ inches. 

One point of windage moves the bullet 8.66 
inches on the target for every 100 yards of 
range. 

The carbine uses the same ammunition as the 
rifle, but the velocity it 80 feet less, due to the 
shorter barrel. 

Method oe Cleaning Shells. 

The following method of cleaning shells, de- 
vised by Dr. W. G. Hudson, I have used for a 
number of years with perfect results : 

Two solutions are prepared and kept in tele- 
graph battery jars, and used over and over again 
until exhausted. No. i solution contains 2 quarts 



242 Suggestions to Military Rijlevmn. 

of water, 4 fluid ounces of sulphuric acid, and 
4 ounces of potassium bichromate. No. 2 solu- 
tion consists of ^ pound of potassium cyanide 
in 2 quarts of water. 

The shells are first thoroughly rinsed in hot 
water, then dipped in No. i for not more than 5 
seconds, then rinsed thoroughly in water, pre- 
ferably running water, then in No. 2 for a few 
seconds, and finally in water again. It may take 
two or three dips before the shells are absolutely 
clean. It is important that they be thoroughly 
rinsed in water between each application of the 
fluids. Finally they should be boiled in clean 
water for five minutes or more, then quickly 
shaken dry and placed in a warm place above a 
stove to dry. This warm place should not be 
hat enough to anneal them. The reason for 
boiling is to get the shells so hot that they will 
dry of their own heat. If they take more than 
about 20 minutes in drying, they are apt to 
corrode. .This process leaves them cleaner inside 
and out than new shells. The process is greatly 
facilitated by using a home-made wire basket in 
which to' place the shells muzzle down while dip- 
ping. Both solutions are poisonous, and if mixed, 
will not only be spoiled, but will evolve poison- 
ous fumes. 



Suggestions to Military Rifiemen. 243 

The National Rifle Association. 

The National Rifle Association of America' 
was organized in 187 1. The objects of the As- 
sociation are : "To encourage marksmanship 
throughout the United States, particularly in the 
direction of qualifying as finished marksmen 
those individuals who may be called upon to 
serve in time of war ; to encourage competition 
in marksmanship between teams and individuals ; 
to encourage legislation for the establishment 
and maintenance of ranges ; to secure the issue 
of military rifles and ammunition to those prac- 
ticing thereat ; and to create a public sentiment 
in respect to the necessity of rifle practice as a 
means of national defense." 

The Association has done inestimable good in 
furthering rifle practice. It holds the largest and 
most important competitions in the country each 
year in conjunction with the National Matches. 
Every patriotic citizen, and especially every rifle- 
man, should be a member. Life membership costs 
$25. For information, address Lieutenant A. 
S. Jones, secretary, National Rifle Association, 
Hibbs Building, Washington, D. C. 

The official organ of the National Rifle Asso- 
ciation is the weekly paper, Arms and the Man, 
published at 1502 "H" Street, N. W., Washing- 
ton, D. C. The subscription price is $3.00 a 
year. This paper is also the authority on rifle- 
shooting in the United States. 



JUL & i^B 



